Introduction to Avionics Mac Mollison What I Want

Introduction to Avionics Mac Mollison

What I Want to Talk About What do we mean by “avionics”? l What is the focus of this course? l

Avionics l Avionics = aviation electronics » i. e. , any electronics used in aircraft, spacecraft, and satellites » This is a very broad term

Avionics Examples Navigation l Communication l Sensors l Flight Control l » Adjusts flight surfaces – analogous to “steering” a car, which turns the wheels. l Vehicle management system » What we really care about in this course » See next slide

Vehicle Management System (VMS) Central computer on the plane l Analogous term: l » Flight management system l Has become more important as focus shifts from federated avionics to integrated modular avionics (IMA) » See next slide

Avionics Architectures l Federated Avionics » Multiple “modules, ” connected by a bus » Basically, a distributed system » The “old” way l Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) » These modules are hosted on a single computer with an RTOS » Obviously, some hardware is still distributed » Now widely used, saves on power, cost, and complexity

Avionics – Past, Present, Future l Emerged as a discipline in the 1970 s » Previously, aircraft were largely mechanical Avionics development has always been driven by the military l Future of military avionics = UAVs l » Next slide

UAVs l UAV = Unmanned Aerial Vehicle » Widely seen as the future of military aircraft » Example: Global Hawk, Predator, Reaper, UCAS l The driving “application area” for this course » Since this is the current area of innovation in avionics

Lost of interesting challenges l Fighter jets, UAVs, and spacecraft are becoming more complex » Trust me, next-gen UAVs will have a LOT of very advanced subsystems and “intelligent” behavior l These complexities are pushing the boundaries of current real-time systems capabilities » Which challenges us to extend those boundaries.

For Example l Next-gen UAVs will fully replace pilots » Industry people talk about this as the “mission management” functionality » Software and scheduling needs are different from vehicle management software – Raising the possibility of a new “mission management system” (MMS), in addition to VMS

Take-Home Points l Areas of focus for this class » Central airborne computers – i. e. VMS, MMS – Viewed from a “Real Time Systems” perspective » UAVs as a driving application