RTOS to fly in US Navy UAV

A Wind River Systems product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Aug 22, 2008

Device software platform will enable Northrop Grumman developers to rapidly create, deploy and maintain critical, integrated modular avionics applications more reliably.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has selected Wind River VxWorks 653 as the device software platform for its X-47B Navy-Unmanned Aerial Combat System (N-UCAS).

The platform will enable Northrop Grumman developers to rapidly create, deploy and maintain critical, integrated modular avionics (IMA) applications more reliably.

The X-47B N-UCAS, as a carrier-capable, multimission, unmanned combat air vehicle is transformational.

The US Navy's programme (Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration, or UCAS-D) is designed to mature critical technologies and reduce the risk of carrier integration of a UCAS while providing the information necessary to support a potential follow-on acquisition milestone decision.

Wind River VxWorks 653 provides Northrop Grumman with a proven, safe and reliable solution for its safety-critical control systems.

"We chose Wind River because of our successful past usage of VxWorks, and its forward-looking product strategy that allows us to migrate to ARINC 653 and secure Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) systems", said Tighe Parmenter, Manager, X-47B Navy UCAS Business Strategy and Development, Northrop Grumman.

"In addition, the platform enables reductions in device sise, weight and power, thereby reducing significant design, engineering and production risks".

Wind River's VxWorks 653 offers an industry-leading Certification Evidence DVD containing required documentation for the customer to deploy the VxWorks 653 real-time operating system in numerous safety-certified systems, with robust support for applications running at different safety levels on the same silicon.

The platform also includes unique RTCA DO-178B-qualified development and verification tools that remove significant time, costs and risk for testing and deploying IMA systems.

"Our VxWorks 653 system removes the risk out of creating compact, small footprint avionics systems, making it the most compelling compute platform for complex, flight-critical systems involved in challenging missions such as unmanned systems like the X-47B N-UCAS", said Rob Hoffman, Vice President and General Manager for Aerospace and Defence at Wind River.

"We are excited to work with Northrop Grumman and to provide our proven VxWorks 653 solution for such an ambitious project that represents the future of unmanned systems technology".

The Wind River VxWorks platforms are complete, flexible, optimised COTS development and run-time platforms that work out of the box and across the enterprise.

The platforms provide a powerful, scalable development and on-chip debugging environment built on open standards and industry-leading tools, the industry's most trusted commercial grade real-time operating system (RTOS), and tightly integrated run-time technologies.

This proven technology package is backed by a 25-year track record, an exceptional ecosystem of hardware and software partners, and the industry's most comprehensive support organisation.