Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
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22 Jul 21. Aloft Patents UTM Platform Technology. Aloft (formerly Kittyhawk), a supplier of drone operations and airspace management solutions, has been awarded another patent for their industry leading Dynamic Airspace platform.
This latest patent adds to its existing portfolio of IP for the technology powering the next generation of Universal Traffic Management Systems (UTM) and their existing “XiD” technology patents for Remote Identification of drones and additional parts of Dynamic Airspace.
Aloft’s Dynamic Airspace platform powers the entire Aloft UTM platform as well as the FAA’s B4UFLY application. Since Aloft’s revamp of the B4UFLY platform on web, iOS and Android, the Dynamic Airspace platform powering it has served well over 10 million airspace checks, making it the highest volume airspace solution in the market.
“We’re proud to see our solution being deployed against such a wide range of use-cases. Our philosophy has always been to ship solutions customers use rather than create demonstrations or exhibitions. The IP we’ve created from Remote ID to Dynamic Airspace to UTM forms the building blocks of an ecosystem where drone operations can scale without compromising safety or compliance,” says Aloft CTO Joshua Ziering.
In addition to the FAA’s B4UFLY application, Aloft’s Dynamic Airspace platform is also the driving force behind Aloft’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) product that powers over half of all FAA LAANC requests. Aloft’s easy to use mobile applications for Android, iOS and the web provide a unified interface for the largest enterprise users and recreational hobbyists alike to safely and compliantly gain access to airspace while maintaining near-real time situational awareness.
Working with a select group of beta customers, Aloft has begun offering API data services on top of their airspace platform. This includes the ability to query locations and flight plans against existing authorizations and custom airspace in their account, as well as the full set of National Airspace including Class, altitude limits, and current TFR’s. It also allows local stakeholders like the City of San Francisco to put all of their parks data and local drone ordinances into B4UFLY — instantly bringing situational awareness to the largest audience of drone operators in the world. (Source: UAS VISION)
21 Jul 21. Collins Aerospace Launches Perigon Offering to Support Future Flight Computing Requirements. Collins Aerospace today announced the launch of its PerigonTM computer, available for a broad range of commercial and defense platforms. With advanced computing power, open-system architecture and flexible configurability, Perigon is designed to enable future flight control and vehicle management needs.
“From autonomy to cybersecurity, customers want their platforms to do more than ever before,” said Kim Kinsley, vice president and general manager, Environmental and Airframe Control Systems for Collins Aerospace. “Yet more capabilities require a commensurate increase in processing power. Enter Perigon. With its unique combination of power and flexibility, Perigon stands ready to help customers meet the future flight computing requirements of tomorrow.”
Developing Perigon
At the 2018 Farnborough International Air Show, Collins announced the development of a next-gen vehicle management computer designed to support autonomous flight. Since then, Collins has built a working prototype and is currently performing detailed development and integration testing, with an eye toward qualification testing in 2022. The company has also branded the computer as Perigon, a mathematical term for a 360-degree angle. Collins chose the name to represent the many capabilities Perigon can offer customers, the holistic view of systems and inputs it provides, and its enhanced flexibility.
Advanced computing power, open-system architecture
Perigon will have the ability to provide 20 times the processing power of Collins’ existing flight control computers, thousands of which are currently in service on a multitude of platforms worldwide. Combined with its open-system design, Perigon’s high computing power will allow customers to load it with a variety of complex software applications, including autonomous and fly-by-wire flight control, cybersecurity, vehicle management and predictive health maintenance. In addition, capabilities that previously required multiple computers across a platform may now be able to be performed by Perigon alone, thanks to its enhanced processing power. This, in turn, could enable customers to reduce the number of computers onboard and enjoy space, weight and cost savings as a result.
Flexible configurability for a range of applications
Depending on the customer’s needs, Perigon can be configured as simplex, duplex or triplex redundant. It will be FAA certifiable to facilitate aircraft level certification, available for commercial or military rotary and fixed wing platforms.
“From air transport, to sixth-gen fighters, to the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift program, to aerial firefighting and beyond, we see broad opportunities for Perigon across the aerospace and defense industry,” said Kinsley.
Perigon is supported by the LYNX MOSA.ic for Avionics product and AdaCore’s QGen TQL-1 qualifiable autocode generator for Simulink®/Stateflow® models. (Source: ASD Network/Collins Aerospace)
21 Jul 21. Honeywell and Cambridge Quantum Reach New Milestones. The companies have reached three major milestones that help bring quantum computing to real-world applications. Honeywell (Nasdaq: HON) and Cambridge Quantum today announced three scientific and technical milestones that demonstrate the viability of large-scale quantum computing and show that quantum-enabled solutions for optimization are closer than expected. For the first time, researchers at Honeywell Quantum Solutions demonstrated repeated rounds of real-time quantum error correction (QEC), an advancement that represents a significant step toward the realization of large-scale quantum computing. The company also achieved a quantum volume of 1,024, doubling its own record from just four months ago. Beyond the hardware milestones, Cambridge Quantum also has developed a new quantum algorithm that uses fewer qubits to solve optimization problems.
Honeywell researchers addressed quantum error correction by creating a single logical qubit from seven of the 10 physical qubits available on Honeywell System H1 Model and applying multiple rounds of QEC. Protected from the main types of errors that occur in a quantum computer, Honeywell’s logical qubit combats errors that accumulate during computations.
“Big enterprise-level problems require precision and error-corrected logical qubits to scale successfully,” said Tony Uttley, President of Honeywell Quantum Solutions. “These technical milestones of quantum error correction and quantum volume, together with advanced software from Cambridge Quantum, will allow us to increase the viability of quantum computing in the real-world.”
Honeywell and Cambridge Quantum announced in June they are combining to form the world’s largest, stand-alone quantum computing company. Closing of the combination transaction remains subject to regulatory review and customary closing conditions. The two companies have long worked together to develop quantum-enabled solutions to address optimization, scheduling, and other enterprise-level challenges. Since first announcing its commercial quantum computers in March 2020, Honeywell has continuously exceeded its own milestones.
The new quantum algorithm illustrates the combined impact of Honeywell and Cambridge Quantum and the type of quantum-enabled solutions to expect from the new company. This latest collaboration speeds up convergence, accuracy, and scalability of quantum algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems such as supply chain challenges in manufacturing or route optimization scenarios in logistics.
Cambridge Quantum has developed new methods to accelerate convergence up to 100 times faster, improve the solution quality, and reduce hardware resource requirements compared to standard Variational Quantum Eigensolver and Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm. These new methods were tested using the Honeywell System Model H1, Honeywell’s latest commercial offering.
“Faster quantum algorithms can have a profound impact on a variety of industries that face complicated optimization problems,” said Ilyas Khan, CEO and founder of Cambridge Quantum. “Take for example a steel manufacturer which produces a variety of products. To manufacture all products on-time at minimal cost requires complex scheduling of several production processes. By optimizing these processes, companies — and, ultimately, their customers and consumers in general — can see the positive effects. Honeywell and Cambridge Quantum are making it easier for businesses to do their jobs well and effectively.” (Source: PR Newswire)
21 Jul 21. Authors propose an Australian DARPA to turbocharge universities’ national security research. An American-made Ghost Robotics legged robot stands ready with Australian Army soldiers during an autonomous systems showcase at the Majura Training Area, Canberra. An Australian equivalent of DARP would better enable university and industry research that produces and explores such systems. Photo: Defence
More than at any time since World War II, science and technology (S&T) breakthroughs are dramatically redesigning the global security outlook. Australia’s university sector now has a vital role to play in strengthening Australia’s defence.
In a paper published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), authors Peter Jennings and Robert Clark propose establishing a formal partnership between Australia’s Defence Department, defence industry and Australian universities.
“There’s a significant opportunity to boost international defence S&T research cooperation with our Five-Eyes partners: the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand,” they say. “We outline how this can be done.”
Central to this partnership proposal is the need to restructure current arrangements for Defence funding of Australian universities via the creation of an Australian Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)— based on the highly successful American model, which the UK plans to emulate in 2022. In Australia, implementing these initiatives will contribute significantly to a vital restructuring of the university sector’s research funding model. An Australian DARPA, with robustly managed security, will enhance research ‘cut-through’ in the defence sector and the wider economy.
We think it’s also vital that this work, underpinned by a DARPA-like culture of urgency and innovation and with potential to affect several portfolios beyond Defence, needs to be championed at the government level. In the modern Australian system of government, that means the Prime Minister needs to be directly involved. Urgent means urgent. At least for the first few years of its life, an Australian DARPA should, in our view, report through Defence to the Prime Minister and the National Security Committee of Cabinet.
To download their paper, go to the ASPI web site: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/australian-darpa-turbocharge-universities-national-security-research-securely-managed (Source: Rumour Control)
21 Jul 21. USMC adopt DARPA force design software to build the Corps for future fight. The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab now has a software tool for force design and experimentation developed by the same agency that conceived the stealth bomber and an early version of the Internet.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced recently that it was transitioning its Prototype Resilient Operations Testbed for Expeditionary Urban Scenarios, or PROTEUS, to the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab in Quantico, Virginia.
That was after DARPA launched the program in 2017 and completed a five-day capstone testing and demonstration with Marines from 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, according to a DARPA statement.
“Using the PROTEUS software, Marines were able to visualize and manipulate their electromagnetic footprint, apply logistics support automation, and obtain quantitative analytics on the effectiveness of force packages and tactics in real time,” John Paschkewitz, PROTEUS program manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office, said in the statement.
While still at DARPA, the PROTEUS program was used by Marine Corps leadership to hone some of its Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 insights. The force design experiments and simulations have and continue to inform major decisions in the structure and functions of the Marine Corps.
In 2020 that meant shedding tanks and tankers from the ranks as well as beginning a large-scale shift away from conventional tube-launched artillery to more rocket artillery systems such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.
In May, Marine Corps Times covered the groundbreaking for a state-of-the-art Wargaming Center at Quantico, Virginia, expected to open by mid-2023.
At that event, Lt. Gen. Eric Smith said that what the center will do is used advanced software and experts in wargaming and Marine programs to decide the best composition of units and the equipment they’ll use in future combat.
“It’s like we’re bracketing,” Smith told Marine Corps Times. “We’re not saying, ‘How far is the target?’ We’re saying that the target is somewhere between 4,000 and 4,500 yards … that’s what this center does.”
Bracketing is a technique often used with indirect fires such as mortars or cannon artillery when determining the distance of a target. A shooter will fire the projectile both short of and past the target, then know the distance where the target lies ― between the two shots.
In some unseen but vital ways, Marines also were able to run conceptual work for force design through the PROTEUS program that would test those concepts back in 2017 before the center was more than a goal for the Corps.
Paschkewitz said the tool allows developers, planners and leaders to look at how to deploy assets that emit electromagnetic signal and what’s possible at the platoon, company and battalion level.
The PROTEUS program has three components:
1 – A virtual test environment that serves as a kind of tactical multidomain “sandbox” for experiments and analysis across echelons. This synthetic environment is called ULTRA.
“Building a commander’s insight and judgment is driven by the fact that there’s a live opponent,” Paschkewitz said. “We built ULTRA around that concept from day one. This is not AI versus AI, or human versus AI, rather there is always a Marine against an ADFOR (adversary force), that’s another Marine, typically, forcing the commander to adapt tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and innovate at mission speed.”
That allows commanders to immerse themselves in a simulated future conflict. Then they can deploy capabilities they have or future, not-yet-developed capabilities, to see what works best.
“Commanders can hone their battlefield skills, while also training subordinates on employment techniques, delivering a cohesive unit able to execute in a more effective manner,” said Ryan Reeder, model and simulation director, Marine Corps Warfighting Lab Experiment Division.
The system also generates data on leader’s critical decision in key “friction points” in the scenarios, Reeder said.
After those scenarios unfold they can use an NFL-style replay and review decisions, showing the effect of those decisions, he said.
The ULTRA section of PROTEUS displays urban areas in three dimensions, using the below-1,000 foot view from camera mapping equipped drones.
- The dynamic composition engine known as COMPOSER includes software that can automate equipment loadout and planning to develop commanders plans and what kind of logistical support needed to execute that mission set.
COMPOSER will also use electromagnetic spectrum operations tools to give feedback on EM signature risk, communications assets and network configuration.
“Without the EMSO and logistics wizards, it’s hard to effectively coordinate and execute multi-domain operations,” Paschkewitz said. “Marines can easily coordinate direct and indirect fires but coordinating those with spectrum operations while ensuring logistical support without a staff is challenging. These tools allow Marines to focus on the art of war, and the automation handles the science of war.”
- The Parametric Data Service loads and updates models maps and other elements that keep the first two components, ULTRA and COMPOSER relevant and ready. It uses specifications for everything from radio range to vehicle capabilities to weapons ranges and effects.
“The portability of the PROTEUS kit has been essential to us getting the capability to where Marines train,” Paschkewitz said. “It’s been great to see a communications or radio battalion Marine sit next to an Infantryman on PROTEUS computers and be able to understand each other, plan, and execute in innovative ways.”
By pulling together these tools, Reeder said, users can conduct virtual integration in early experiments for tactics, techniques and procedures before the first live experimentation begins. That can reduce risk, cost and time. (Source: Defense News)
20 Jul 21. JetPack Aviation Completes Initial Speeder VTOL Trials. California-based JetPack Aviation announced that it has completed flight testing with the first prototype – P1 – of its Speeder jet powered, VTOL mobility platform. Trials concluded successfully in May. Flight testing began in December 2020, with two-axis tethers securing the platform, progressing through a single-axis tether and culminating in the aircraft flying with just a safety tether connection. The program achieved a series of test points aimed at proving the engine gimbal and articulated exhaust nozzle systems, as well as the flight controller.
The engine gimbal and articulated exhaust nozzle systems, combined with the mechanical elements of the Speeder control system, operate in conjunction with the flight controller, comprising a computer and flight sensors, to enable the aircraft’s unique maneuverability. Within the confines of the 80ft (24m) tether system, P1 demonstrated the Speeder’s ability to take-off, climb, hover, yaw and perform slow transitions into forward flight.
With its unique combination of heavy payload, speed, VTOL operation, simplicity and optionally crewed flight, the Speeder offers unprecedented special missions capability, with longer term application to the urban air mobility market. Demand is expected to be high, and JetPack Aviation has already begun readying letters of intent for customers and taking pre-orders for the aircraft.
Build work on P1.5, the next prototype, which will ultimately fly off-tether, has already begun. Flight testing is expected to begin later in summer 2021, gathering data that will inform the design and build of P2, for which flight testing is anticipated from Q1/2 2022. P1.5 employs a smaller airframe compared to P1, as JetPack Aviation moves the product closer to production configuration. Like P1, it will use four engines, although the production model will employ eight, at least for crewed operations; P1.5 will also feature carbon fiber body panels. Trials will validate increasingly rapid transitions as well as faster forward, rearward, and lateral flight.
The P2 prototype Speeder will have a fully formed body, small, field-removable wings, and forward canards. The aircraft is sufficiently compact to be transported in a car or motorcycle trailer, and immediately ready to fly, with no charging or other requirements. It is expected to demonstrate high-speed forward flight with control and lift effected by aerodynamic surfaces as required, building on the aircraft’s proven capability to fly safely on engine thrust vectoring.
The Speeder burns regular Jet A-1, kerosene, or diesel, but in a recent cooperative supply agreement with Prometheus Fuels Inc., JetPack Aviation has committed to using 100% zero net carbon fuel in all its future operations. (Source: UAS VISION)
20 Jul 21. Collins Aerospace Awarded Contract to Support Next Phase of Australia’s Land 17 Program.
- Project marks the next phase of providing next generation systems to the Australian Defence Force (ADF)
- Builds on more than a decade of support of ADF’s Digital Terminal Control Systems
Collins Aerospace has been awarded a contract to supply the next generation Digital Terminal Control Systems (DTCS) under the Australian Defence Land 17 Phase 2 program. This is a follow on from the original Phase 1 program that Collins have been supporting for over 10 years.
The DTCS is a targeting system utilized by Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) and Joint Forward Observers (JFOs) to request and coordinate support missions delivered by land, sea or air platforms.
A spokesperson from the ADF said, “The ADF and Collins Aerospace have developed a partnership building and sustaining the current in-service system. As an industry partner they have looked to improve the next generation DTCS equipment and have established a support program to ensure current and future interoperability with joint force and coalition platforms.”
The next generation DTCS system provides extended capabilities such as improved power management for longer mission duration from the equipment power system, and an upgraded night vision targeting equipment to ensure that the Australian Defence Force has the technologies required for the digital battlespace,” said Sonny Foster, managing director, Australia. “Going forward, we’ll continue to collaborate and develop more in-country capabilities to support Australia’s defence programs.”
Collins Aerospace will work with the ADF to ensure that the DTCS delivered meet requirements throughout the system’s life of type. (Source: ASD Network/Collins Aerospace)
20 Jul 21. Mercury teams with CoreAVI to provide advanced safety-critical computing platforms for aerospace and defense. Mercury Systems, Inc., (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), a leader in trusted, secure mission-critical technologies for aerospace and defense, today announced that it is teaming with CoreAVI to provide CoreAVI’s safety-certified graphics, video, and GPU compute solutions to aerospace and defense customers.
The licensing agreement between the companies addresses the growing demand for safety-critical solutions and open standards platforms in the defense market. Mercury will be the exclusive worldwide sales channel for combining CoreAVI’s software and COTS hardware for the aerospace and defense markets providing a single source for safety-critical open standard platform.
“As the demand for flight safety certification increases globally, so does the complexity and performance requirements of the computing systems powering critical avionics applications,” said Jay Abendroth, vice president, Mercury Mission. “The complementary capabilities of our Mission division in mission computing, safety-critical avionics and platform management capabilities combined with CoreAVI’s products will lead to delivering better solutions and products to customers, reinforcing our commitment to Innovation that Matters.”
Mercury and CoreAVI will also work together to develop and market safety-certified highly integrated artificial intelligence (AI) microelectronics technology for rugged, mission-critical enhanced situational awareness and connected autonomous systems.
“Safety is a key element in any airborne platform and as the technology in avionics applications continues to evolve, the safety criticality of both hardware and software must follow suit,” said Damian Fozard, CEO of CoreAVI. “CoreAVI is excited to partner with Mercury to offer our safety-critical graphics and compute solutions, combined with Mercury’s mission computing solutions, to support the future applications of our aerospace and defense customers.”
20 Jul 21. Collins Aerospace Selects AdaCore’s QGen Code Generator to Streamline Model-Based Development. AdaCore, a trusted provider of software development and verification tools, announces that Collins Aerospace has selected AdaCore’s QGen code generator for Simulink®/Stateflow® models, and the new TQL-1 Enterprise Qualification Package, to advance the development of their FAA-certifiable PerigonTM computer, which is designed to support the future flight control and vehicle management needs of commercial and military rotary/fixed wing platforms. By using the TQL-1 release of QGen, PerigonTM software developers are able to save thousands of hours of testing, verification, and certification efforts, while providing additional safety guarantees to their customers. With the adoption of the QGen Enterprise Qualification Package, Collins is now able to streamline its model-based engineering practices.
QGen is the first qualifiable code generator for a safe subset of the Simulink®/Stateflow® modeling languages. QGen automatically generates C or Ada source code directly from the model while precisely preserving its functionality, eliminating the need for manual verification of the resulting source code. For systems requiring the highest assurance, such as commercial aerospace, medical device, and autonomous driving applications, the QGen code generator is being qualified by AdaCore and its partner Verocel at DO-178C Tool Qualification Level 1 (TQL-1), which is the highest level of qualification recognized by the FAA. QGen with TQL-1 allows developers to use the generated code without any manual review, streamlining the critical-system development and verification process. In addition, QGen includes an interactive model-level debugger, displaying the model together with the generated source code to provide a uniquely productive bridge between control engineering and software engineering.
QGen is now available with an Enterprise Qualification Package. This package comes with flexible licensing so that projects of any size, company-wide, can take advantage of the use of a TQL-1 qualified autocode generator. The package is based on a unique subscription approach, which provides an enhanced qualification kit every year. The same warranties are provided to all projects, including expert support for certification audits. Large organisations that perform many of their development and verification activities through model simulation can now dramatically reduce verification activities on the generated code, reducing costs while streamlining the overall certification process.
“AdaCore is excited to partner with Collins Aerospace to bring to market the first TQL-1 code generator for Simulink,” said JC Bernedo, AdaCore QGen team lead. “AdaCore has worked closely with Collins throughout the development of QGen to ensure it meets the development needs of their most critical aerospace software.”
Learn how QGen can help your enterprise significantly reduce its software development, testing, and verification costs. Contact .
About AdaCore
Founded in 1994, AdaCore supplies software development and verification tools for mission-critical, safety-critical, and security-critical systems.
20 Jul 21. New £375m scheme to drive investment in innovative firms of the future opens for applications. A new £375m scheme to drive investment in the UK’s most high growth, innovative and R&D intensive firms opens today (Tuesday 20 July) – in a move designed to super charge the UK’s post-pandemic economy.
- £375m Future Fund: Breakthrough opens for applications to help high-growth, R&D intensive companies bring game-changing technologies to market
- The government will co-invest with private investors to help scale-up innovations across UK industries including life sciences and clean technology – driving economy and creating jobs
- Chancellor Rishi Sunak will convene a landmark Treasury Connect conference in London later this year to bring together CEOs of the UK’s biggest tech firms and investors.
Under the UK- wide Future Fund: Breakthrough scheme the government will commit £375m of funding to fast-growing firms looking to raise at least £30m of investment. To be eligible, businesses must have commitments of 70% of an investment round from private investors with a track record of financing innovative companies – such as venture capitalists.
The scheme will span across the UK’s world class industries including life sciences, quantum computing and clean technology and accelerate the deployment of breakthrough innovations that could solve some of society’s greatest challenges – from developing life-saving new medicines to technologies that support the UK’s transition to net zero. It is part of the government’s multibillion-pound investment in research and development to help build a future economy, create skilled jobs and cement the UK’s status as a scientific superpower.
In addition, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced that he will host a Treasury Connect tech conference in East London in September to bring together the CEOs and senior leaders of the UK’s biggest tech firms and investors.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:
Our Future Fund: Breakthrough scheme will enable innovative businesses in every corner of the UK to access the finance they need to scale up and bring their transformational technologies to market – all while creating high-skilled jobs and boosting the economy as part of our Plan for Jobs.
Technology and innovation will be at the heart of our future economy which is why we are investing billions in R&D to help cement our status as a world-leader in this field.
Above all, our investment will incentivise collaboration between our most ambitious entrepreneurs and private investors, helping to commercialise breakthrough products such as new medicines and green technologies that could change our lives for the better – all while creating high-skilled jobs that help boost the UK economy.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said:
The support we have provided over the past year is not only helping firms to survive the pandemic, but also driving the growth and jobs of the future, making the UK a global innovation powerhouse.
The original Future Fund was a tremendous success in helping cutting-edge firms to get the fuel in the engine they need to really motor forwards, and we are building on that with the fresh Future Fund: Breakthrough scheme.
Due to high research and development costs, breakthrough technology companies typically require more capital over longer time periods than other companies to bring their products to market.
The UK’s most innovative companies are key drivers of future growth and it is estimated that 1% growth in these firms could grow the UK economy by £38bn.
In March 2020, the government introduced the Future Fund which successfully supported the high-growth sector during the pandemic so that its potential was not subdued. This scheme provided more than £1bn of convertible loans to 1,190 businesses to help them through the pandemic.
The government is supporting innovative companies through the Plan for Growth, which includes the Future Fund: Breakthrough, the forthcoming Innovation Strategy and £14.9bn of spending on research and development, the highest level for four decades.
Further information
- Future Fund: Breakthrough was announced at Budget 2021 and will be delivered by the government’s British Business Bank, via its subsidiary British Patient Capital. The Government has already committed over £1.3bn to a growing portfolio of now over 500 high-growth innovative firms through British Patient Capital
- It will be open for applications on a rolling basis to R&D intensive companies with well- established UK operations
- For more information on eligibility and criteria please see the British Business Bank
- Future Fund: Breakthrough is separate from the government’s Future Fund, now closed to new applications, which was launched in April 2020 to address the immediate funding challenge that innovative, equity backed, UK companies faced due to Covid-19
- Future Fund: Breakthrough will ask lead investors to sign the Treasury’s Investing in Women Code, which commits firms to improving female entrepreneurs’ access to tools, resources and finance
- During the pandemic, the Chancellor facilitated over £2 bn of investment through the Future Fund to ensure that high-growth firms were not negatively impacted by the pandemic as part of the £350 bn Plan for Jobs
- As announced at the Budget in March, our Innovation Strategy will set out the steps government will take to boost innovation in the UK
- Government spending on R&D in 2021 to 2022 is £14.9 bn, its highest level in four decades, demonstrating progress towards our target to increase total public and private R&D investment to 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027
- We are investing more money than ever before in core research, in line with the announcement at the Spending Review in November 2020 that government will increase investment in core UKRI and National Academy funded research by more than £1bn by 2023 to 2024
- To bring it all together we’re doubling public funding in R&D to £22bn so that UK scientists have access to more funding than ever before. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
13 Jul 21. European INVIRCAT research publishes conops for RPAS in controlled terminal airspace. The European research project into safe and equal integration of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) in the terminal manoeuvering area (TMA) and airport environments has released a third public deliverable to provide an initial concept of operations (CONOPS) for RPAS in the TMA.
This initial Concept of Operations for RPAS in the TMA gives a comprehensive overview of the systems and operations needed to support the integration of RPAS into existing Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures on and around airports.
The concept focuses on fixed-wing RPAS of the traffic class VI, which are capable of flying under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and more specifically Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) and Standard Arrival Routes (STARs) in airspace classes A-C.
The goal of the CONOPS is to provide a guideline for the integration of fixed-wing RPAS of varying sizes and performances in medium to complex TMAs and airports, envisioning the potential use of RPAS for a widespread array of civil and military applications.
The document aims to define a concept of operations that is applicable to multiple RPAS operating simultaneously in a shared environment with manned aviation.
In order to minimize the risk associated with remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) in the TMA, the CONOPS introduces the use of automatic take-off and landing (ATOL) systems including the inherent system and operational requirements.
The CONOPS is based on the investigations of the state-of-the-art and the developed use cases and concept outline that have been published in deliverables D2.1 and D2.2.
After validation through Real-Time Simulations (RTS) and an assessment of the CONOPS through the project’s Advisory Board, this deliverable will be the base for D2.4 Final CONOPS “RPAS in the TMA”.
The initial CONOPS is the third public deliverable produced and made available by the INVIRCAT project.
For more information visit:
www.invircat.eu/deliverables (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
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Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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