CHALLENGE
Build a fully automatic safety-certifiable in-air refueling system that implements a
refueling process that is reliable, repeatable and, most importantly, safe. In addition,
the system needed to allow the refueler to see approaching aircraft accurately and
in real time by ingesting video data from multiple aircraft sensors.
SOLUTION
Mercury delivered a purpose-built computer for Airbus based on the commercial
off-the-shelf (COTS) ROCK family of pre-integrated subsystem platforms that draw
from a range of safety-certifiable modular COTS building blocks, addressing both
the need for high-end video processing and the safety-criticality of the application.
The system handles video streams with very low latency across multiple processors
while meeting stringent DO-178 and DO-254 software reliability processes.
RESULT
With a total of 45 flight test hours and 120 dry contacts, Airbus successfully
demonstrated the first-ever fully automatic air-to-air refueling operation with a
boom, opening the door for future unmanned refueling systems.
This significant milestone is part of the production phase of the Airbus A3R system
that will be implemented in the A330 SMART MRTT tanker. The certification phase
for the tanker program begins in 2021.
Mercury Helps Airbus Achieve World's
First Safety-Certifiable Fully Automatic
Refueling System
CASE STUDY
Mercury + Airbus
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ROCK PLATFORM
Mercury developed a high-
performance computing
platform that allowed Airbus
DS to integrate the core
artificial vision algorithms
necessary to make this
achievement possible.
Luis Miguel Hernández, Airbus
SMART MRTT program manager
Innovation That Matters®
