Collins Aerospace’s new platform supports complex flight computing

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.”

announced the development of a next-gen vehicle management computer designed to support autonomous flight in 2018. 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 branded the computer as Perigon, a mathematical term for a 360-degree angle and chosen  to represent the many capabilities Perigon can offer customers, the holistic view of systems and inputs it provides, and its enhanced flexibility.

High processing power

Perigon will have the ability to provide 20 times the processing power of Collins’ existing flight control computers. 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. This, in turn, could enable customers to reduce the number of computers onboard and enjoy space, weight and cost savings as a result.

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 US Army’s Future Vertical Lift program, aerial firefighting, and beyond, we see broad opportunities for Perigon across the aerospace and defense industry,” said Kinsley.

In the meantime, Collins Aerospace has completed a US$30 million expansion of its maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Monroe, North Carolina.