Windhover Labs is close to introducing a low-cost modular flight computer that it says will be suitable for integration with a variety of new applications. The Texas-based company initially developed the open-architecture software and hardware with commercial drones and small satellites in mind but says that the technology could be readily adapted for use with new eVTOL aircraft.
According to cofounder and CEO Mathew Benson, the new computers are based on largely open-sourced software that he initially helped to develop as a contractor to NASA and which he says can be readily certified by the FAA. “To make the flight computer itself, we took the same approach as for manned space flight and so it is almost over-engineered for drones,” he told FutureFlight. “We’re looking at partners [developing new aircraft] that are still a year or two away from having something that is flyable. We’ve tried to make this very cost-effective, on the assumption that it is almost always the flight computer that goes over budget in a program.”
