Embraer adopts RTI Connext DDS for KC-390 mission-critical avionics software development

SUNNYVALE, Calif., 10 April 2013. Embraer Defense and Security engineers have selected Connext DDS (Data Distribution Service) from Real-Time Innovations (RTI) for the software development of its KC-390 military transport aircraft mission computer.

Embraer is developing the KC-390 twin-engine military airplane, designed primarily to transport cargo and troops and to perform aerial refueling. The KC-390 uses state-of-the-art avionics and is now making use of Connext DDS to increase software development productivity for the KC-390 Mission Computer.

“Defense procurement is shifting and RTI is pioneering the way toward interoperable open architecture (IOA) for high-performance distributed systems. Our leading-edge technology enables faster deployment and increased software development productivity for large-scale, mission critical systems,” says Curt Schacker, chief commercial officer at RTI.

Embraer Defense and Security’s portfolio includes military airplanes, state-of-the-art radar technologies, unmanned drones, and advanced information and communications systems, such as Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) applications.

Embraer is using Connext DDS on its multi-processor Mission Computer to integrate software applications running on top of different CPUs and operating systems.

Connext DDS reduces the time, cost, and risk of adopting a real-time Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Open Architecture (OA). “With the highest U.S. DoD maturity level, TRL 9, Connext DDS is a perfect fit to aid software development for Embraer’s KC-390 Mission Computer and is used for inter-partition communications as well as inter-node communications,” a company representative says. With Connext DDS, Embraer will have the flexibility to add new software functions to the Mission Computer with little to no disruption to the current software.

The Israeli Air Force is using Connext DDS on VxWorks 653 for the integrated modular avionics (IMA) of the F-35s it is buying from the U.S.