SYSGO and Curtiss-Wright demo a secure RTOS running on an ARM processor at Aviation Electronics Europe
NewsMarch 26, 2015
MUNICH. Engineers at SYSGO and Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions demonstrated a secure real-time-operating system (RTOS) running on an ARM processor this week at the Aviation Electronics Europe event at SYSGO's booth -- #19. The joint platform combines SYSGO’s DO-178B/C certified hypervisor PikeOS with Curtiss-Wright’s VPX3-1701 Freescale LS1020A dual ARM Cortex-A7 processor-based single board computer (SBC) in an avionics solution.
ARM is a very popular technology and has billions of users, but it has not been wideley adopted in avionics circles because it lacks a track record of safety certification , says Matthias Lotzke, Director User Experience at SYSGO. However, this demonstration shows it can be done, he adds.
"It is very similar to how we run safety certified software on Freescale processors," Lotzke continues. Most of the software is reused except for certain functions that need to be adapted for ARM, he adds.
The demonstration shows integrated solution for avionics displays that can support and ease the design of human machine interface (HI) applications and generation of certifiable code. It supports the latest generation of GPUs, while providing options for DO-178C and ED-12C certification kits (up to Design Assurance Level A) for safety critical environments, including all certification evidence required for regulatory approval, SYSGO officials say.
Curtiss-Wright’s VPX3-1701 has a QorIQ Layerscape LS1020A processor operating at 1.0 GHz with integrated dual ARM Cortex-A7 processors and is rated at less than 15W maximum power dissipation.
PikeOS is a hypervisor intended for embedded systems with safety and security requirements. It is certified standards, such as DO-178B or IEC 61508, supports Common Criteria EAL 5/6 evaluation, and is SIL 4 certified on a multi-core processor.
