C2Land (an auto pilot for airplanes)

2019: Demonstration of a system

In July, 2019 it became known that full-size airplanes for the first time began to make landing in the mode of a complete auto pilot — without support of the airports.

Completely the automatic landing system of aircrafts which received the name C2Land was developed in Technical University of Munich (TUM). The technology is designed to secure and simplify landing at the small airports.

For the first time the airplane landed on a complete auto pilot

Modern airplanes are equipped with auto pilots which allow not only to save a trajectory in flight, but also to come in the land thanks to so-called kurso-glide-path system (ILS). However the last works in sheaves with the airports — the rate of an airliner is constantly adjusted  depending on  signals of two land radio beacons.

But such system is provided not at all airports therefore in  small airfields pilots should rely only on  signals of GPS  and also to be guided visually that can be heavy at night or in bad weather. Creators of C2Land tried to solve this problem.

A system looks for a runway the same as people: "eyes", using for this purpose visible and infrared cameras on an airplane nose. Algorithms of computer vision adjust a rate on the basis of GPS signals.

Development passed successful tests by real airplanes. The four-seater two-engine  vessel Diamond DA42 took part in testing, and during the experiments at a steering wheel there was a pilot.

Cameras begin to distinguish   a runway still far from  the airport  —   the test pilot Thomas Vimmer who tested C2Land says. — Then a system makes completely automatic  landing approach and  precisely sets the airplane on  the center line   of a runway.

System developers are sure that during an era of automation of flights their product will be very demanded.^[1]

If the aircraft only begins to use a complete auto pilot, then Soviet Snow-storm is already recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the only spaceship which during flight and landing was controlled exclusively on-board computer. It happened in 1988.

Robotics

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