Intellisense Systems, Inc. has been awarded a contract from Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA(ALT)) to develop advanced power management systems for future airborne platforms. This solution integrates power management and distribution functions (including load shedding and prognostic data collection) to maximize efficient source-load matching for all phases of a mission. This controlled and coordinated power architecture provides significant fuel savings, reduced component stresses, and improved power quality over uncoordinated black-box power on legacy systems.

This solution is based on unique Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE)-conformant power services software and novel hardware architectures. Specifically, this solution enables intelligent and pre-emptive power management decisions to be made at the platform level with power controls facilitated at the line-replaceable unit (LRU) level for future fleet vehicles and platform upgrades. This LRU-level design aligns with Intellisense expansion into intelligent power management systems that often need to meet Design Assurance Level (DAL) A.

This contract award builds on the industry solutions of proven high-voltage DC electrical power systems and commercial more-electric aircraft technologies. This includes advancements being made within the ground vehicle community for hybridized architectures along with aviation-safe energy storage solutions. The results of Phase I research, modeling, simulation, and assumption validation experimentation have successfully demonstrated by experiment and analysis the feasibility of this innovative technology, yielding significant fuel savings and weight reduction.

"We are excited to bring intelligent power management to the ASA(ALT) and their future airborne platforms," says Jason Holmstedt, Senior Director of Technology and Innovation at Intellisense. "This program is well-positioned to serve as a foundation for future aircraft and vehicles where power awareness can lead to a positive operational impact, including longer mission durations, increased fuel efficiency and reduced operator workload. We look forward to using this additional funding to lay the groundwork for further development and testing of a mature prototype."

This solution is adaptable to existing and future systems thanks to its Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA). It also has significant commercialisation possibilities, including industrial, consumer, and grid power management solutions, due to the advantages in adaptability and scalability.