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Hear about SDSU’s journey to 2023 Design/Build/Fly and the aircraft they designed and flew at the competition.

Learn about the future of aerial logistics with Elroy Air as they work to bring same-day shipping to every person on the planet. Their revolutionary Chaparral hybrid-electric VTOL UAS combines air and ground autonomy, enabling automated terminal navigation and cargo loading for rapid turnaround times with minimal human touch. With a cargo capacity of 300–500 lbs and mission range up to 300 miles, Elroy Air’s system will revolutionize commercial middle-mile logistics, humanitarian shipping, and military resupply. Join Elroy Air’s CEO Dave Merrill to hear about the transformative potential of the Chaparral UAS and explore the impacts of next-generation automated logistics.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are an increasing area of emphasis for the Department of Defense (DoD). In its 2022 budget the Pentagon requested $4.3 billion for AI/ML-related efforts, an over 50% jump in a two-year span. Unfortunately, much of the driving technology is being developed for commercial applications due to the relatively small size and challenges associated with the defense market. Common commercial assumptions like ample compute power, internet connectivity, and stable power are not valid in DoD applications due to deployment in what is referred to as the edge on low size, weight, and power (SWaP) platforms. Edge AI/ML refers to processing data and running algorithms on the deployed device rather than centrally. This concept allows AI/ML to run without connectivity, an important feature for military platforms that can experience degraded communication. In addition, DoD edge computing often happens in low SWaP environments due to mission and cost requirements. This can be challenging for commercially developed technology that often is designed to live in large data centers with access to ample compute resources. As a result, to make AI/ML technology deployable and tactically relevant, edge computing and low SWaP deployment problems need to be addressed. This presentation describes the process of deploying AI/ML models in low SWaP environments at the edge. Specifically, the talk looks at developing a vision-based automatic takeoff and landing deep learning system for a UAV. The presentation details the model development and optimization process for low SWaP deployment. In addition, it covers testing of the model using different deployment optimization strategies and the trade-offs associated with each. Ultimately, the presentation provides the community with an example of how to address a pressing problem associated with deploying AI/ML for military applications.

Flight safety has always been an issue in aviation, and will be one of the most sensitive aspects in urban air mobility. Safety will be one of the first hurdles to be overcome to get the new mobility off the ground, because flight safety — especially in UAM — means passenger safety and safety for those living in the cities that will be crossed by eVTOLs.

While many in the industry are concentrating on building flying taxis, batteries, and vertiports to land on, we at The Edge Company are focusing on the roads in the city skies: can we make them safe with our BCMS Ventur system that is already used in some airports? Non-cooperative obstacle detection based on computer vision and artificial intelligence seems to be the only one that currently offers the possibility of detecting obstacles, classifying them without any harmful emissions and without any problems due to the structure of the cities. The BCMS Ventur, thanks to the dynamic approach and the multidisciplinary team that developed it, is an obstacle detector that has a true positive rate of more than 95%, guarantees safe operations and contributes to the protection of local fauna (birds), as well as having no harmful emissions.

The Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability (PEGASAS) is an FAA Center of Excellence for General Aviation. The mission of PEGASAS is to enhance general aviation safety, accessibility, and sustainability by partnering the FAA with a national network of world-class researchers, educators, and industry leaders.

This discussion will focus on how the PEGASAS Center of Excellence for General Aviation can answer research questions for advanced air mobility.