The regulatory green light takes many forms. Airframes, engines, propellers, and avionics are certified for airworthiness. The design of computer software and hardware is approved to meet rigorous levels of reliability, functionality, and cybersecurity. Certification and approval are not just technical requirements but the cornerstone of trust, reassuring passengers, pilots, operators, and regulators that every aspect of an aircraft and flight operations meets the highest safety and performance benchmarks. It is an ongoing process, evolving alongside advancements in technology and the changing demands of the industry.
We advocate for the principle stated by the FAA, of starting with lower-risk applications to gain experience and inform broader applications and safety methods. This is also necessary for AI technologies to be adopted by society through gradually gaining trust from the regulators, pilots, and the public.
Daedalean is well on the road to certifying the first real-world application of machine learning techniques in airborne safety features. Our proven Visual Traffic Detection capability based on computer vision and machine learning techniques is in two active STC processes for CS 23 (with the FAA) and CS 27 (with EASA), where the AI component certification approach is based on EASA’s SC-AI-01
Trustworthiness of Machine Learning based Systems. Both systems are to be certified to DAL-C and will benefit from concurrent validation from the counterpart regulatory agency.
The first product that we aim at launching to the market under the product name Ailumina Vista is the traffic detection system for CS27. EASA and FAA delegations have already conducted several week-long visits to Daedalean’s offices for SOI (Stage of Involvement) audits, and have been in continual communication with us, separately reviewing the updates to Daedalean's documentation submitted according to the certification plan.
The process is painstakingly rigorous, as it should be, and we don’t expect the STC to be granted before the comprehensive proof of the system’s safety and fitness for purpose is assured. As of April 2025, two of the four SOI audits are finished, and we are proceeding with SOI-3.
