Software kernel and development environment selected for new HAWK

Citation

(2006), "Software kernel and development environment selected for new HAWK", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 78 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2006.12778dad.001

Software kernel and development environment selected for new HAWK

Software kernel and development environment selected for new HAWK

Keywords: Military aircraft, Aerospace industry, Training

Green Hills Software, Inc., manufacturer of operating systems and development tools for safe and secure systems, recently announced that BAE Systems has selected the Green Hills GMART SPARK Ada compliant kernel and AdaMULTI development environment for the new Hawk military trainer development aircraft.

The Green Hills Minimal Ada Run- Time (GMART) kernel for PowerPC is being used for the next generation Hawk Mission Systems for the aircraft consisting of two new open architecture mission computers. The second unit allows the two cockpits of the aircraft to operate independently, each being used for different purposes to fulfill the required training need. Instructors in the rear seat can monitor the trainees in the front or configure the system for their own requirements. The second computer also provides extensive back- up capability in the event of any failure. This system provides graphics for all six cockpit display panels and a heads-up display (Plate 1).

Plate 1 Green Hills software kernel and development environment selected for new HAWK military trainer aircraft

“Green Hills Software is very pleased that BAE Systems selected our GMART safety critical kernel and our AdaMULTI development environment for the new Hawk program,” said Dan O'Dowd, founder and chief executive officer of Green Hills Software. “Green Hills Software offers several different kernels within our safety critical product line. These were specifically developed to meet individual program needs. The GMART kernel is a SPARK compliant, small and deterministic kernel that is statically verifiable to be correct.”

Green Hills Software offers a complete line of safety critical products. This includes the GMART product used here by BAE Systems, the Green Hills Small Tasking Ada Run-Time (GSTART) product, the INTEGRITY-178B real- time operating system (RTOS) and all the support tools necessary for safety critical development. GMART and GSTART are both small, fast and deterministic kernels for executing single applications on an embedded computer. INTEGRITY-178B is a time and memory partitioned operating system, certified to DO-178B Level A and to full ARTNC-653-1 compliance.

Support for ARTNC-653-1 with its partitioning definition is said to allow developers to deploy multiple applications on a single processor, at potentially multiple safety certification levels. This powerful capability enables developers to reduce the number of on- board computers needed to support multiple software systems. Further, INTEGRITY-178B is the only safety critical RTOS to be certified for multiple languages, including: Ada, C, MISRA C and Embedded C++ allowing developers to choose the language and kernel best suited to meet their development needs.

Details available from: Green Hills Software, Inc. Tel: +44 (0) 1962 829820, Fax: +44 (0) 1962 890300 Green Hills Software Kernel and Development Environment.