The Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ) is pleased to announce the latest progress on its Autonomy of Future Air Mobility (AMAF) project with Thales, TXT (formerly Presagis) and Université Laval. The purpose of this project is to structure the increasing autonomy of vehicles involved in advanced air mobility.

The aim of the AMAF project is to propose a structured framework for the autonomy of new regional and urban air mobility solutions in Quebec through two complementary approaches. Capitalising on Quebec’s vibrant technological ecosystem, the project partners intend to establish the province’s role as a world-class hub for digital aviation systems.

“Future air mobility is one of CRIAQ’s three strategic pillars, and the growth of this sector has multiple implications in terms of safety and regulatory compliance, and above all in terms of social acceptability. The AMAF project addresses all these issues, and I’m very pleased with the progress it is making and optimistic about the technological breakthroughs it could deliver.” – Alain Aubertin, President and CEO of CRIAQ.

TXT will create a digital twin of the airspace environment to support real-world implementation of innovative perception and navigation functions developed as part of this project, and to provide training for users of these new systems. Further expanding the company’s expertise in this field, a virtual test bench will be created to analyse interactions between the real world and an entirely simulated environment.

The key innovation goal of the project is to develop and test the solutions needed for an air vehicle to fly safely and fully autonomously along a previously unannounced flight path. Challenges include real-time flight path optimisation, continuous verification of flight path safety and security, and calculation of all the alternative routes that could be taken should unforeseen circumstances arise.

These capabilities were demonstrated at the Unmanned Aerial System Centre of Excellence (Centre d’Excellence sur les Drones – CED) test facility in Canada during trials conducted in late 2023 with a UAV provided by Thales for the purposes of this project.
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