Boeing has demonstrated the use of commercial computing technology in an F-15E combat aircraft. Flight testing of an advanced display core processor (ADCP) using PowerPC hardware began in late July.
The ADCP replaces both the central computer and the multi-purpose display processor in the F-15E testbed. Boeing says that a 22 July flight test demonstrated that the commercially based processor provides the same display capabilities as the existing military hardware.
Development of the ADCP by Boeing's Phantom Works is sponsored by the US Department of Defense's Commercial Operational & Support Saving Initiative (COSSI), which aims to reduce the ownership costs for deployed military systems by using commercially available technology.
The COSSI programme calls for flight testing in late 1999 of a pre-production ADCP that performs an increased number of F-15E Operational Flight Program (OFP) functions. A production version would perform all OFP functions, as well as providing growth for advanced features.
The system is being developed under the Phantom Works' Bold Stroke project, set up to exploit commercial technology to produce "open", non-proprietary, computer systems for military aircraft.
The Bold Stroke team previously demonstrated the re-use of open-systems avionics modules in the F-15, F/A-18 and AV-8B.
Source: Flight International
