Esterline CMC Electronics selects Green Hills Software INTEGRITY-178B multicore operating system for DO-178B Level A certification

April 3, 2013
WRIGHT PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 4 April 2013. Esterline CMC Electronics (CMC) engineers needed an operating system compliant to DO-178B Level A for the company’s next-generation integrated avionics computers and smart display units. They found their solution at Green Hills Software in Santa Barbara, Calif.

WRIGHT PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 4 April 2013. Esterline CMC Electronics (CMC) engineers needed an operating system compliant to DO-178B Level A for the company’s next-generation integrated avionics computers and smart display units. They found their solution at Green Hills Software in Santa Barbara, Calif.

CMC engineers selected Green Hills Software’s INTEGRITY-178B multicore real-time operating system (RTOS). The INTEGRITY®-178B Time-Variant Unified Multi Processing (tuMP) capabilities will be hosted on a Freescale multicore processor.

The operating system functionality selected by CMC for DO-178B Level A certification includes capabilities required to host applications that align with the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard. This includes integration of existing Green Hills Software DO-178B Level A Partitioning-Journaling File System (PJFS-178B) and IPFLITE Ethernet stacks as part of their tuMP-based multicore system. The CMC systems will be capable of hosting FACE Technical Standard-aligned applications developed using C, C++, and Ada95 programming languages.

"For CMC, a key attribute of successful product development, long-term maintenance, and customer satisfaction is sufficient processing capabilities," explains Patrick Champagne, vice president, Cockpits and Systems Integration, Esterline CMC Electronics. "Continuation of this level of processing support without escalating the required power and subsequent heat dissipation requires the use of multicore processors whose composite processing capabilities across multiple cores are greater than a single-core processor with the same power load.

“CMC determined that Green Hills Software's INTEGRITY-178B tuMP product uniquely provides the partitioning, resource configuration, and certification support required for our next generation of avionics products. The tuMP architecture and layered products provide the capabilities necessary to support FACE Technical Standard aligned applications, yet also provide the flexibility to tailor a system for other types of end-users," Champagne adds.

About the Author

Courtney E. Howard | Chief Editor, Intelligent Aerospace

Courtney enjoys writing about all things high-tech in PennWell’s burgeoning Aerospace and Defense Group, which encompasses Intelligent Aerospace and Military & Aerospace Electronics. She’s also a self-proclaimed social-media maven, mil-aero nerd, and avid avionics and space geek. Connect with Courtney at [email protected], @coho on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and on Google+.

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