Collins Teams with Army to Certify Airworthiness of Multicore Processors

Multicore microprocessors are essential components in guidance, navigation, and other electronic systems. But the processors for these systems must be airworthy or capable of handling a high shock and vibration environment (see image above).

To help develop airworthy processors more quickly, the U.S. Army and Collins Aerospace, a Raytheon Technologies business, unveiled their Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). The agreement, which specifically involves the U.S. Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, seeks to develop best practices, approaches, processes, and methods for airworthiness certification of multicore microprocessors.

Dave Schreck, vice president, Military Avionics & Helicopters for Collins Aerospace, said, “As Army Aviation leads the U.S. Department of Defense in the pursuit of future vertical lift platforms, this collaboration will pave the way in defining modular open system approaches with an emphasis on multicore processor airworthiness certification.”

Schreck hoped for faster development times for integrating new capabilities at lower costs to the military: “The intent of this cooperative agreement is to improve airworthiness certifications for this emerging technology field that reflect the needs of both Army and industry. Working together, we will focus on shortening certification timelines and enhancing affordability to deliver warfighter overmatch in support of the future and current fleets of military rotorcraft platforms and beyond.”

Collins Aerospace (Huntsville, Ala.), a leading supplier of thermoplastic materials for space, recently opened a modular open systems approach (MOSA) Center of Excellence in Huntsville. The company also invested in an $18 million wind tunnel at its Electric Power Systems facility (Rockford, Ill.), to streamline testing and certification of Ram air turbines. The wind tunnel uses a large fan to achieve wind speeds of 170 knots. It complements two existing wind tunnels.