Collins Aerospace has launched its PerigonTM computer, available for a broad range of commercial and defense platforms. With advanced computing power, open-system architecture, and flexible configurability, PerigonTM is designed to enable future flight control and vehicle management needs.
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 PerigonTM, a mathematical term for a 360-degree angle. Collins chose the name to represent the many capabilities PerigonTM can offer customers, the holistic view of systems and inputs it provides, and its enhanced flexibility.
PerigonTM 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, PerigonTM'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 PerigonTM 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.
Depending on the customer's needs, PerigonTM 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.
