General Atomics selects Abaco's FORCE2 flight computer for its SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.— Abaco Systems of Huntsville, Ala., announced recently that the company’s FORCE2 flight computer had been chosen by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. to be at the heart of GA-ASI’s Certifiable Ground Control Station (CGCS). The CGCS was recently used to control the complete flight of an MQ-9B SkyGuardian – including take-off and landing.

This was the first time the CGCS has been used to control an entire end-to-end flight of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), and was a step in achieving GA-ASI’s goal of the SkyGuardian being the first certifiable RPA certified to fly in national and international airspace.

The CGCS architecture provides separation between flight and mission critical functions. Flight critical functions are performed using a combination of off-the-shelf avionics, Abaco’s FORCE2, and hardware developed by GA-ASI that are controlled by GA-ASI’s certifiable DAL B software. The mission critical functions are separated and run alongside GA-ASI’s proven Advanced Cockpit payload and weapons equipment.

The FORCE2 Open Reference Computing Environment is designed to support the planned development of safety-critical, DO-254/DO-178 certifiable applications compliant with the FACE initiative.

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