Modular aerospace controls

Honeywell investigates a commercial off-the-shelf approach to the automated generation of safety-critical software for distributed control systems.

The aerospace industry has been developing highly integrated safety critical systems for decades. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has thus developed stringent certification requirements to meet the needs of the industry, with safety as a primary focus of systems development.

Honeywell Engines & Systems has begun investigating various tool chains in support of its Modular Aerospace Control (MAC) architecture. The innovative architecture is built upon the Time Triggered Communications Protocol (TTP/C) from TTTech. Honeywell and TTTech AG have partnered to develop the architecture for a number of future controls platforms, including military and commercial auxiliary power units (APU) and main engine electronic control units (ECU).