The Networks & Embedded Systems team addresses key challenges of applying emerging communications and computing technologies in the aerospace domain through close collaboration across Collins Aerospace, as well as with leading academic and external research partners.

Our technology roadmap is driven by the vision of a new generation of more connected, more autonomous, and more efficient aircraft operating safely in a global heterogeneous airspace.

Focus areas

  • On-aircraft and air-to-ground communications systems for Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) – including performance improvements of existing operational systems and evaluation of emerging technologies (5G and Non-Terrestrial Networks, or NTN) for seamless global coverage
  • Decentralization of computing through cloud/network convergence to support future aeronautical CNS systems for low-level flight operations
  • On-board, high-performance computing systems, including runtime-adaptable, distributed embedded systems and custom microarchitectures for specialized functions to support high-performance, safety-critical computing systems
  • Performance analysis of heterogeneous computing platforms, including characterization of timing determinism to meet safety and security requirements
  • Emerging novel computing architectures for reaching new size, weight and power (SWaP) benchmarks within highly integrated systems to mitigate Moore’s Law and other limitations in traditional computing architectures