Merlin Makes Progress Toward Autonomous Flight Certification

U.S. startup Merlin has reached a milestone in the development of its Merlin Pilot autonomous flight system as it progresses toward certification in the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan as its first application.

Merlin says it has achieved the second Stage of Involvement (SOI 2) milestone with the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand under its Caravan supplemental type certification program, which is on a concurrent validation path with the FAA.

SOI 2 is the second of four steps in the certification audit cycle under the DO-178 airborne software standard. Merlin achieved the SOI 1 milestone in May 2023 when the New Zealand regulator accepted the startup’s planning documentation.

SOI 2, the development review, marks the point at which approximately 50% of the software data for the flight control computer has been formally reviewed, and provides the regulator with “meaningful insight into how Merlin has been executing against the approved plans,” the company says.

Two steps remain to be achieved under the DO-178 process: the SOI 3 verification review and SOI 4 final compliance review. “Each stage of this process deepens regulator confidence, reduces program risk and advances the Merlin Pilot toward certification,” says Tim Burns, Merlin chief technology officer.

Separately, the startup has signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Air Force focused on enhancing the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (AGRA) to support advanced contingency management for next-generation uncrewed and collaborative air systems.

AGRA is a government-owned autonomy architecture that is modular and adaptable to multiple platforms and missions. The architecture separates mission autonomy from vehicle autonomy and uses open and common interfaces to avoid vendor lock and minimize the airworthiness impact of upgrades.

Under their CRADA, Merlin and the Air Force will explore approaches to autonomous fault detection, recovery and dynamic mission adaptation that enable aircraft to respond more effectively to unexpected events, system degradation or operational changes.

In July, rival autonomous flight system developer Reliable Robotics signed a CRADA with the Air Force to support the A-GRA. The goal is to ensure commercial uncrewed aircraft capabilities are compatible with the architecture, so warfighters can interoperate with civilian and military air traffic control systems.