ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a revolutionary leap for
aviation, Istari Digital has announced that a modification of the
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® X-56A is on track to become the
world's first digitally-certified aircraft. Last year, the United
States Air Force awarded Istari Digital a $19 million contract to pioneer this ambitious
program, aptly named Flyer Øne in homage to the Wright Brothers.
The goal? To create and flight certify a digital twin before it's
physically built, paving the way for future aircraft development to
mirror the rapid pace of software engineering.
While digital certification is routine in industries like
Formula 1 racing, it's unprecedented in aviation. "It's not as
futuristic as it sounds," said Will
Roper, Istari Digital founder and CEO. "For a new aircraft
variant, if the structure and flight dynamics can be simulated
accurately, physical prototypes become the slow lane. Hardware as
software is the fast lane."
Istari Digital has previously been tight-lipped about the
specifics of their aircraft and industry partners. In an exclusive
reveal, they shared the exciting news. "Having just passed a major
Design Review, we're thrilled to announce the modification of the
Skunk Works X-56A is on track to achieve the first digital flight
release," Roper said. "The United States Air Force X-Plane program
has a storied history of breaking physical boundaries—from the
sound barrier to sub-orbital flight. Now, they're breaking digital
barriers too."
The X-56A, developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, is an
advanced modular uncrewed aerial vehicle designed to push the
boundaries of High-Altitude Long Endurance flight. With a 7.5-foot
fuselage and a 27.5-foot wingspan, the X-56A first took flight in
the summer of 2013 from Edwards Air Force Base. With a unique
mission to demonstrate flutter prediction capability and flutter
suppression, the program achieved significant progress in flight
control, demonstrating the ability to suppress body freedom flutter
through the development of slender, flexible wings.
The Flyer Øne design features significant modifications to
landing gear systems, cameras, as well as addressing obsolescence
issues. "In many respects, this is a simpler variant of the
aircraft," said a member of the Skunk Works team. "We collected
significant data during the original program, so the simulation of
updated flight performance has a solid foundation."
Roper initiated the defense trend of adopting digital
engineering practices during his tenure as Assistant Secretary of
the Air Force, penning the Matrix-inspired "There is No
Spoon" in late 2020. The Pentagon has since directed digital
engineering for all future programs. However, unlike Formula 1,
aerospace and defense face challenges in integrating numerous
intellectual property and classified data sources, making adoption
more difficult.
Istari Digital's solution is a new decentralized
data meshing technology that expands on the concept of a "digital
thread." Earlier this month, they launched Model Øne, a program to
build an "internet of models" for the Pentagon. In a recent Wall
Street Journal op-ed, Roper and former Google CEO and Istari
Digital investor Eric Schmidt
highlighted how such infrastructure could simplify and accelerate
virtual technology across industries. "Applying software practices
to hardware will lead to revolutionary speed and agility," Schmidt
said. "Istari Digital is providing the missing infrastructure to
connect coding environments with existing engineering tools, making
software speeds possible for hardware at scale."
For the digital X-56A, this new digital infrastructure will act
as a plug-and-play interface between Lockheed Martin's simulations
and the Air Force's stringent airworthiness process. The aim is to
meet the burden of proof normally required physically for a
Military Flight Release.
Once approved, the aircraft-on-a-chip will be built to
specification and flown at Edwards Air Force Base. If the physical
twin matches the digital model, the aircraft-on-a-chip is a real
airplane, at least from a research and development perspective. It
can be updated and evolved using software processes without the
time, cost, and environmental impact of physical world
innovation.
However, Roper cautions, "It isn't surprising this subsonic
drone can be modeled in near virtual reality because it is anchored
by significant physical world data. The original X-56A was built to
collect flexible wing data because it could not be modeled
from extrapolated rigid-wing designs. Model pedigree determines
what can be a digital twin."
The risk of over-extrapolation was evident in the 2022 Formula 1
season when new ground-effect regulations led to unexpected
"porpoising" effects for many teams, including Mercedes. Taking
over half the season to model, understand, and then correct them,
Mercedes Tech Director, Mike
Elliott, blamed a single simulation error: "If we hadn't
made that one mistake, we'd have a car that was winning the world
championship," Elliott said.
As Flyer Øne, and with it, aviation, now take to the digital
skies, both new design speeds and technical risks will follow in
its wake. But like Formula 1, clinging to legacy processes is a
losing strategy. Even with new risks, design speed and cycle time
win.
Istari Digital Press Contact:
info@istaridigital.com
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SOURCE Istari Digital, Inc.