Avilution is a company that is transforming avionics design with their eXtensible Flight System (XFS). Pulse 2.0 interviewed Avilution founder Mark Spencer to learn more about the company.
Mark Spencer’s Background
What is Mark Spencer’s background? Spencer said:
“I’m a computer engineer and founded the software startup Avilution in 2010. In 1999, while still a student at Auburn University, I was a Linux enthusiast and decided I would make a business to provide Linux technical support. As part of that, I needed a phone system, but they were very expensive. Since I was a software developer, I decided I would just create my own (called Asterisk) rather than purchase one. That company (Digium) would later play a critical role in the transition of the telecom world from being a very hardware centric, time division multiplexed world of the past to the voice over IP environment we live in today.”
Formation Of Avilution
How did the idea for Avilution come together? Spencer shared:
“As Digium got big, I decided I wanted to do something different and learned to fly, thinking I would never find another industry that was as far behind the technology trend as telecom was. However, soon after becoming a pilot, I realized that the avionics industry was going through a very similar transition from hardware to software and that airplanes were more fun to work with than phones, so I created Avilution to perform much of the same kind of transition in that space that I had previously been a part of with telecommunications.”
“Background of Avilution: Avilution is a software startup that is building the technology to power the next generation of manned and unmanned air vehicles. Our core software, eXtensible Flight System (XFS), ditches the outdated avionics designs that have encumbered the aerospace industry and replaces it with a suite of modern software applications. XFS enables aircraft manufacturers and integrators to rapidly design and build a modern flight deck in a fraction of the time.”
“Located at the Huntsville International Airport, we have the resources to rapidly develop, deploy and flight test new features in real time by utilizing the airport’s new 7,000+ sq ft facility of hangar space, a full motion flight simulator, and new development laboratories. This gives us the ability to easily experiment with sensors or display layouts in order to develop innovative new features for XFS..”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Spencer reflected:
“In early 2023, Avilution was given the opportunity to demonstrate its capabilities on a real Army National Guard helicopter. Some people were impressed that in the relatively quick time period of 5 months, we were able to integrate a different Army radio into the aircraft using the computers it already had on-board.”
“When we arrived to perform the demonstration, we learned that there were two important requirements that had not been given to us at the start of the effort that would now be required for the demonstration to work correctly. Thanks to the overall, unique architecture of our software product (XFS), we were able to make the needed changes on the actual helicopter the same day that we received the requirements — something that seemed completely impossible at the time. That inadvertent demonstration ended up becoming a key element in garnering the attention and the awards we have received since.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Spencer explained:
“Avilution’s core product is called the eXtensible Flight System, or XFS. For someone who doesn’t eat, breath and sleep avionics each day, XFS is analogous to a spreadsheet program (e.g. Excel, Google Sheets, etc) for the safety critical needs of avionics. If we think of how spreadsheets are used today, typically one program is used for solving a diverse set of business problems. Whereas before, software needed to be written for every problem. XFS is like a spreadsheet that combines commonly used formulas together so that they’re all in one place. As a result, non-programmers can rapidly configure a subset of formulas, connect them with their own numbers and formulas, and generate their own productivity tools in real time.”
“In a similar way, XFS allows the rapid creation and iteration of safety critical avionics solutions while minimizing the amount of required recertification associated with traditional software approaches. XFS is used in both civil and government aircraft and is used in both certified aircraft and experimental ones.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Spencer and the team faced in building the company? Spencer acknowledged:
“There is no limit to the number of challenges in this space — challenges which have historically scared away small companies. The most significant challenge associated with this space is that of certifying software for flight. In general, the methodologies developed for software certification have minimally evolved since the 1970s when software played only a very small role.”
“Today, the cost of the certification of avionics software ends up being one of the highest costs and longest schedule items within the design of a new aircraft. Avilution’s approach has been to focus its efforts on simplifying the underlying software by taking advantage of common design patterns to allow a much smaller body of software to be certified at a much lower expense of time and money and yet provide the flexibility required for both current and future changes. We have chosen to innovate selectively to minimize the risk and certification challenge associated with our strategy.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Spencer noted:
“My passion within aviation is strongest in the general aviation sector for light aircraft. Seeing next generations of urban air mobility, electric and hydrogen aircraft really gets me excited about the potential for Avilution’s software and helped spur our focus on rapid adaptation to new, changing or unknown aircraft requirements. However, within the first few years of its founding, we discovered that the US Government (especially Army, Air Force and Navy) had many more needs for this specialized capability. Historically, our tax dollars have paid for very similar software to be developed over and over by large aircraft manufacturers, just to then have them charge exorbitant fees for changes and support because the government is locked into them as a single source for changes.”
“The services have recognized this problem over the last several years and tried many approaches to solve it, but Avilution’s approach has been especially practical at being able to deliver real results. Given this environment, such government opportunities have helped us refine our business model which today produces a surprising array of dual use technologies that help both casual recreational pilots fly more easily and at lower cost while that same software also protects us from new threats from adversaries.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Spencer cited:
“In 2024, Avilution achieved two critical milestones, both related to the certification. Our XFS software flew for the first time as part of the system of an FAA certified aircraft (as part of a retrofit on a light twin engine jet called an Eclipse 500) and it also achieved 100% code coverage on its core software, an important milestone on the Army certification pathway.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Spencer about the company’s customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Avilution started XFS development over 10 years ago using internal R&D funding, and has been flying XFS on operational aircraft since 2015. XFS was further matured via eleven DoD and NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts, demonstrating its equal capability to upgrade existing systems or integrate new platforms. One example of this is the U.S. Army Experimental Demonstration Gateway Exercise (EDGE 23): During EDGE 23, at Yuma Proving Ground in May 2023, Avilution integrated the PRC-167 communication radio into the UH-60V, including support for previously unavailable P25 Call Groups and a guard frequency monitor function requested on-site by the pilots.”
“Avilution also integrated an additional radio (the PRC-158) into the same aircraft, dramatically illustrating XFS flexibility with respect to MOSA. This was done completely through the use of configuration files and without the need for any new lines of code, a software recompile, or an operational flight program (OFP) update. All capabilities demonstrated at EDGE were developed and tested in the preceding few months and field-demonstrated on the actual UH-60V Black Hawk in literally a matter of hours. J.T . Naylor, who led Northrop Grumman’s strategy for UH-60V and MOSA architecture development, commented, “This Is the holy grail for Army Aviation – the ability to rapidly integrate operational capability without the onerous timelines, cost, and proprietary hurdles that have historically plagued our efforts.”
Revenue
When asking Spencer about the company’s revenue details, he revealed:
“Only at very high levels. Avilution is a very small, but profitable company.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Spencer assessed:
“Total Addressable Market for Avionics SW globally is about $11 billion(and projected to double by 2032). For Aerospace & Defense that’s another $8 billion. Now that’s ALL the segment’s software. We’re not displacing the existing software – we’re lowering the barrier to entry for Avionics. The current future projections will be seen as wildly anemic once XFS catches on. Our XFS software could potentially expand into other areas where safety critical software is important to innovation such as cars, boats and even medical and nuclear applications.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Spencer affirmed:
“Our approach to avionics is very much influenced by the David vs Goliath experience of my previous company Digium and our software, Asterisk. From a technology perspective, our most critical differentiator is the tenacious focus on simplicity and modular approach that enables us to respond so rapidly. From a business point of view, one of our largest differentiators is the desire to teach other companies how to leverage the technology for customers rather than try to perform all those integrations ourselves. To continue the analogy, our desire is to sell our spreadsheet software and teach people how to use spreadsheets, not to write everyone’s spreadsheets for them.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Spencer emphasized:
“Of course, Avilution is working to expand into additional spaces, especially future general aviation aircraft, some applications within airliners and playing a larger role within those aircraft we already have our foot in the door with.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Spencer concluded:
“Validation from the avionics community that our MOSA (Modular Open Systems Approach) rocks. We even won the 2023 MOSA Challenge!
– The MOSA Summit Innovation Challenge is a competition where companies showcase their Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) by pitching their technologies and ideas to a panel of military, industry, and investment experts at the MOSA Industry & Government Summit
– Our DASC (Digital Avionics Systems Conference) Paper 2024 for which we won 3rd place overall. We had our paper, “Avilution’s eXtensible Flight System (XFS)–Making Modular Open-System Approaches Practical” selected for both Best in Session for Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) and Best in Track for Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA). In addition to that, Avilution was also honored to be further selected for Third Place in the overall “Best of Conference” awards for the best of the 235 academic papers submitted to the 2024 Digital Avionics Systems Conference.”
