Graham Warwick/ST LOUIS
IN A BID TO halve the cost of combat-aircraft software upgrades, McDonnell Douglas (MDC) will flight-test commercial computers in its F-15 and AV-8B technology-demonstrators. MDC says that it plans to show that the same navigation-software module can be operated in two different computers, in two different aircraft.
Bill Frailey, director of production-aircraft advanced design at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, says that the MDC-developed software module will be tested in a CDI computer, in the AV-8B, and a Loral computer, in the F-15. The two computers have different processors, he says, CDI using the MIPS R4000 and Loral the Motorola PowerPC.
Flight-testing is scheduled to begin in March. "The goal is to show that we can build software that is hardware-independent," Frailey says. Another aim is "...to fly commercial off-the-shelf [hardware]", he adds. Flight-testing of the same software and hardware in an MDC F-18 is an option.
Combat aircraft typically go through annual software updates and, every ten years, the computers reach their speed and memory limits. Frailey says that software which is re-usable over several programmes promises to halve the cost of upgrades, while off-the-shelf computers "...will allow us to hook our wagon to the commercial train".
The US Marine Corps plans to upgrade the AV-8B mission computer to add the 1760 weapons databus, advanced medium-range air-to-air missile, joint direct-attack munition and common missile-warning system. The US Air Force, meanwhile, plans to upgrade the F-15 display computer. Both these programmes have been proposed as pilot applications of open-architecture commercial computing standards. .
MDC's AV-8B technology demonstrator has be used for tests of wingtip missile rails and revised underfuselage lift-improvement devices. The latter resulted in a 205kg increase in vertical thrust, he says. The F-15 technology-demonstrator has been used in tests of a reconnaissance pod. MDC next plans to flight-test the F-15 with its moving inlets fixed, to determine the feasibility of removing the variable-inlet mechanism to save weight and cost, Frailey says.
Source: Flight International
