big avionics milestone with “HITL”

April 21, 2022

We’ve got hardware-in-the-loop!

This means we are now flying Quarterhorse in simulation with our own avionics hardware and flight software.

The phrase hardware-in-the-loop is kind of a mouthful so we like to just say “HITL”. We’ve got more details below as well as this video featuring Principal GNC Engineer, Matt Bigelow

HITL massively de-risks Quarterhorse avionics. It allows us to test our software throughout an entire flight – from taxi and takeoff through Mach 5 and back again.

It incorporates aerodynamics data, mass properties, and our propulsion models to simulate Quarterhorse flight conditions in real-time. The simulation calculates the vehicle state in all six degrees of freedom (forward/back, up/down, left/right, yaw, pitch, roll).

The idea is to test the actual flight software running on avionics computer hardware that will mimic the hardware on the flight vehicle.

In addition to testing nominal flight conditions, we’re also stressing the system with anomalies and varying model parameters. We learn a lot from this testing and build confidence in our software for flight. And this is just the beginning.

ABOUT HERMEUS

Hermeus is a startup developing hypersonic aircraft to radically accelerate air travel. At Mach 5, more than twice the speed of the supersonic Concorde, passengers will be able to cross the Atlantic in 90 minutes. On the path to hypersonic passenger aircraft, Hermeus is partnering with government agencies including the US Air Force and NASA to develop a series of autonomous aircraft that derisk the technology and solve urgent national security challenges. These products provide the data and confidence necessary to certify, produce, operate, and maintain safe and comfortable commercial aircraft. Hypersonic aircraft have the potential to create trillions of dollars of new global economic growth per year, unlocking significant resources that can be utilized to solve the world’s greatest problems.

Contact: info@hermeus.com