Airbus Helicopters has performed in-flight validation of the Eye for Autonomous Guidance and Landing Extension (Eagle) on-board image processing system.

Performed on an H225 flying testbed, the trials demonstrated the system’s ability to select a small ground “target” from ranges of up to 2 miles and to automatically track it during the approach performed by the pilot.

Flight tests have also validated Eagle’s architecture and main components, including the gyrostabilized optronics package and the processing unit. The next steps of the testing campaign will focus on coupling Eagle with the automatic flight control system to fully automatise the approach to a selected landing area.

The project aims to federate the entire helicopter’s image processing functions and feed them into the avionics system, thus improving the crew’s situation awareness and reducing the pilot’s workload by automating and securing approaches, take-off and landing in the most demanding environments.

The company says that the system is designed to be integrated on a variety of its existing and future vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles.