Northrop's autonomy testbed Talon IQ aircraft tapped into several software providers midflight

Northrop Grumman’s Talon IQ testbed hot-swaps AI brains mid-flight

“While the aircraft was flying, the software was queued up so that we could have different companies’ behaviors take control of the platform and fly [it],” said Dan Salluce, Northrop’s senior director for aerospace systems.

Northrop's autonomy testbed Talon IQ aircraft tapped into several software providers midflight

A Northrop Grumman aircraft modified for unmanned operations flew for three hours yesterday while mixing and matching mission autonomy configurations, company executives told reporters last night. Over the course of the flight test, which occurred in Mojave, CA yesterday, Northrop’s Prism autonomy software selectively loaded in specific skills from other autonomy modes developed by Accelint and Applied Intuition, Dan Salluce, Northrop’s director…

Northrop Grumman demonstrates mid-flight autonomy software swap on Talon IQ testbed

The demonstration was conducted using the company’s Prism Mission Autonomy software on the Talon IQ platform. During the flight, control shifted dynamically between autonomy systems developed by Applied Intuition and Accelint. The flight began with Prism controlling the aircraft before switching mid-air to partner autonomy software. The system demonstrated the ability to transition between individual autonomy “skills” without interrupting operat…