Flight controllers not only control the aircraft and components, but they also control complex flight characteristics such as level flight or descend under all environmental conditions. Electronic flight controllers can also act as autopilots in airliners, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) planes. Certification, such as needed for European CS-23 also requires a redundant control system.
Rapid control prototyping or bypassing using modular Speedgoat real-time target machines enables you to run and iterate flight control algorithms early in the design phase, without being dependent or constraint by embedded controller hardware.Once your actual embedded controller is available, you can leverage Speedgoat target machines as hardware-in-the-loop simulators. This allows you to emulate the environment of the controller in real-time. You can then define test scenarios for your use cases and automate testing, saving valuable time during certification and integration phases.
"With Speedgoat and its reprogrammable FPGAs we were able to quickly develop, implement and test control algorithms for space applications with Hardware-in-the-Loop in parallel to the development and software of other interfaces for the same module.” Juan Camilo, Airbus
"With Speedgoat and its reprogrammable FPGAs we were able to quickly develop, implement and test control algorithms for space applications with Hardware-in-the-Loop in parallel to the development and software of other interfaces for the same module.”
Juan Camilo, Airbus
Fully leverage Model-Based Design according to ARP4754A. Design, test, and certify your flight controller satisfying standards such as DO-254, DO-178. You can perform automated testing and early verification of requirements to accelerate the certification up to the design assurance level (DAL) A.
Frequently Used I/O Interfaces:
Simulink® Application Resources:
You can use a digital twin of your flight controller or of the complete aircraft to monitor the system health and perform predictive maintenance. A digital twin enables you to simulate live-span and enhance the end-of-live duration of your physical components. By monitoring your iron bird in real-time, you can reduce aircraft on ground (AOG) time by predicting component failure.
Test and improve your electronic flight controller. Enhance reliability in challenging environmental conditions. Receive input directly from the motors using the back-EMF feedback technology. You can integrate the motor control algorithm in your UAV Simulink® model to save time during the testing of design changes.
Learn more about UAV Simulation, Controls and Testing
Iron birds enable you to test and certify new designs or design changes without having to perform actual flight tests. The Simulink® model of your flight controller can help you to perform bypassing. This enables you to emulate signals, such as airspeed, barometric altitude, angle of attack (AoA), or control forces, while the Aircraft is on the ground and feeds them directly into your fully certified Iron Bird.
Success Stories
Bell Helicopter: Bell Helicopter Develops First Civilian Tiltrotor – Success Story
Scientific Aviation Association Aachen: Hybrid Aircraft - Success Story
Aalto University: Students' mission to get Finland's first satellite into orbit - Success Story
Relevant Resources
MathWorks®: The DOD and DO-178C - Webinar
Digital Twin: Industrial IoT and Digital Twins - Webinar
MathWorks®: DO-178: – Case Study
Introduction to Simulink®: Quadcopter Simulation and Control - Webinar
Accelerating Drone Research with a Ready-to-Fly Hexacopter and Flight Control Software -Technical Article
Rapidly prototype control designs by applying rapid control prototyping, test embedded controllers withhardware-in-the-loop simulation of digital twins, and leverage Speedgoat systems as embedded controllers.
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