Business Jan 13. 2023
FAA Grants Initial Approval Allowing BVLOS Drone Flights on Vantis, North Dakota’s Drone System
Focus New Thales IMU product gains certification New Thales IMU product gains certification
The TopAxyz Airborne Solution from Thales has been simultaneously certified by the civil aviation authorities in Europe, the United States, Canada and Brazil. Based on the TopAxyz latest-generation inertial measurement unit, the new product is now ready for prime time — and has already been selected for the ATR 42/72-600 regional airliner and the Embraer KC-390 military transport plane.
All of these systems are based on the TopAxyz family of IMUs and comprise a three-axis laser gyroscope in a single, compact monobloc unit for guaranteed performance and extended lifespan. The TopAxyz architecture is unlike any other in the world, with two data channels instead of the single channel used by other systems. A navigation channel is dedicated to attitude, heading, airspeed and position calculation. A second channel, called the stabilisation channel, is optimised to provide low-latency, low-noise acceleration and rotation inputs without impacting the bandwidth needed by the fly-by-wire system or the visual sighting instruments and ancillaries.
As a result, the IMU can perform navigation and stabilisation tasks simultaneously with no trade-off in performance. An airline pilot, for example, no longer has to choose between the comfort of the passengers and the responsive controls and manoeuvrability of fly-by-wire — the system takes care of both, resulting in a smoother flight all round.
TopAxyz’s high levels of performance and dependability, combined with easy maintenance, were decisive factors in its selection by Airbus, ATR and Embraer.
Today, this flurry of official certifications (ETSO in Europe, TSO in the United States and Canada, OTP in Brazil) further underscores the maturity of Thales's inertial navigation solutions for civil and military platforms.
Find out more about TopAxyz: TopAxyz product information
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