Freescale Semiconductor has formed a working group with top North American and European commercial avionics manufacturers to define their information requirements for multicore processors being used in commercial avionics applications.
The Multicore for Avionics(MCFA) working group includes representatives from BAE Systems, BARCO, Boeing, EADS, ELBIT, GE Aviation, Hamilton Sunstrand, Honeywell, Rockwell Collins, Thales along with Freescale Semiconductor.
"Future avionics systems will benefit from the integration provided by multicore SoCs as the industry strives to provide safer, lighter and feature-rich commercial aircraft," said Greg Arundale of Rockwell Collins.
"The work that has come from the MCFA working group provides a crucial step toward allowing us to take advantage of next-generation processors provided by the electronics component industry," said Arundale.
This week the DO-254 Users Group heard an MCFA proposal for addressing the unique advantages and challenges sophisticated multicore technology presents for avionics certification processes.
"Highly advanced multicore processors based on Power Architecture(R) technology are ideally suited to meet the demanding requirements of commercial avionics applications," said Glenn Beck, avionics marketing manager for Freescale's Networking Processor Division.
The proposal is the result of an assessment by the MCFA working group and includes recommendations for a common, consistent certification methodology.
According to Dr. Fred Fisher of the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute (AVSI), this proposal provides "the direction needed for the certification of systems with complex SoC microprocessors."
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