1. Introduction to Avionics Mac Mollison

2. What I Want to Talk About l What do we mean by “avionics”? l What is the focus of this course?

3. Avionics l Avionics = aviation electronics »i.e., any electronics used in aircraft, spacecraft, and satellites »This is a very broad term

4. Avionics Examples l Navigation l Communication l Sensors l Flight Control »Adjusts flight surfaces – analogous to “steering” a car, which turns the wheels. l Vehicle management system »What we really care about in this course »See next slide

5. Vehicle Management System (VMS) l Central computer on the plane l Analogous term: »Flight management system l Has become more important as focus shifts from federated avionics to integrated modular avionics (IMA) »See next slide

6. Avionics Architectures l Federated Avionics »Multiple “modules,” connected by a bus »Basically, a distributed system »The “old” way l Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) »These modules are hosted on a single computer with an RTOS »Obviously, some hardware is still distributed »Now widely used, saves on power, cost, and complexity

7. Avionics – Past, Present, Future l Emerged as a discipline in the 1970s »Previously, aircraft were largely mechanical l Avionics development has always been driven by the military l Future of military avionics = UAVs »Next slide

8. UAVs l UAV = Unmanned Aerial Vehicle »Widely seen as the future of military aircraft »Example: Global Hawk, Predator, Reaper, UCAS l The driving “application area” for this course »Since this is the current area of innovation in avionics

9. Lost of interesting challenges l Fighter jets, UAVs, and spacecraft are becoming more complex »Trust me, next-gen UAVs will have a LOT of very advanced subsystems and “intelligent” behavior l These complexities are pushing the boundaries of current real-time systems capabilities »Which challenges us to extend those boundaries.

10. For Example l Next-gen UAVs will fully replace pilots »Industry people talk about this as the “mission management” functionality »Software and scheduling needs are different from vehicle management software –Raising the possibility of a new “mission management system” (MMS), in addition to VMS

11. Take-Home Points l Areas of focus for this class »Central airborne computers –i.e. VMS, MMS –Viewed from a “Real Time Systems” perspective »UAVs as a driving application