Aerospace and Defense

Engineering Tasks

• Systems Engineering
• Engineering Data Analysis
• Control System Development
• Signal Processing and Communications System Development
• Test and Evaluation

Control System Development

The mission-critical nature of embedded control systems in aerospace and defense systems requires designers to thoroughly evaluate all options and exhaustively test their final design. MathWorks products provide a complete environment for the design of embedded control systems. Using Model-Based Design with Simulink®, you can begin with initial algorithm selection and parameter determination, move on to complete system simulation and testing, and finally implement real-time software onto your product.

MathWorks tools are the standard for developing and deploying advanced control algorithms for systems including:

• Flight guidance, navigation, and control systems
• Engine fuel control
• Radar tracking
• Satellite attitude determination and control

The tools provide an integrated platform for creating control designs, and for taking initial concepts into production. Whether you are modeling the flight path of a satellite, guiding an aircraft, or simulating missile trajectory, MathWorks tools solve complex control system design challenges while ensuring the reliability of safety-critical systems.

Modeling and Simulation

Engineers who design complex aerospace and defense systems need to understand system behavior early in the design effort. Without the aid of physical prototypes, engineers use Simulink software to assess design options, verify requirements, and understand how design parameters and external disturbances affect mission performance. With the Simulink environment, you can build high-fidelity mathematical models and simulate the results to understand overall system performance.

MathWorks products provide an interactive, visual environment for building and simulating models of:

• Aerospace and ground vehicles
• Mechanical and electrical systems
• Safety-critical systems

Aerospace and Ground Vehicles

To understand the performance of an aerospace or ground vehicle system, engineers create six-degree-of-freedom models that describe the system's dynamic behavior. Simulink lets you model the complex translational and rotational dynamics of practically any airborne or ground system. With the Aerospace Blockset™ product, you can use prebuilt models of many common aerospace systems or develop your own system models. Combined with models of the control system, you can assess system capabilities and begin design trade-off studies immediately.

Mechanical and Electrical Systems

The MathWorks offers specialized tools for creating models of multidomain, physical systems. SimMechanics™ and SimPowerSystems™ software work within the Simulink modeling environment and provide modeling elements and solution techniques optimized for each particular domain. The tools help to design systems such as:

• Batteries and generators
• Landing gear
• Test fixtures

Safety-Critical Systems

Flight computer software for manned aircraft requires certification, such as RTCA DO-178B, before approval for use in commercial products. MathWorks tools help with certification by automatically creating the software application from a thoroughly tested and traceable specification. Using common configuration management tools, MathWorks products ensure the specification meets the strict management requirements set by certification authorities.

• User example: Honeywell uses MathWorks tools to develop DO-178B certified code.

Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing

Because of the unique and complex nature of aerospace and defense products, testing in realistic environments is risky, expensive, and often impossible. Designers of these products use hardware-in-the-loop testing to evaluate prototypes or production embedded control systems before final field-testing and deployment.

The xPC Target™ product provides an easy way to automatically create real-time software for hardware-in-the-loop testing, using the same models created during product design. This real-time software is compatible with many hardware-in-the-loop environments, allowing you to use your existing test platforms.

• User example: U.S. Air Force Guided Weapons Evaluation Facility replaces missile testing system with xPC Target product.

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