DOFWARE for Aerospace

DOFWARE supports its customers in defining the best toolchain for the Model-Based Design and for the multi-physical simulation. We also integrate innovative solutions for automatic testing and automatic report writing in the development process of our customers, paying attention to the relevant regulations.

Aerospace & Defense products are extremely complex: in the same project, several different engineering domains must coexist and must interact flawlessly. Components and sub-systems must be compliant with rigid regulations (e.g. DO178-C) for assuring robustness and reliability.

This is why virtual development, coupled with automated validation and verification, are unavoidable tools for product design.

Since a while, software and firmware have been employed in this industrial field: thanks to the Model-Based Design approach adopted by DOFWARE, the design process can be made more efficient and effective.

 

Physical Modeling Embedded Controls Quality

Physical Modeling and Simulation

Physical modeling consists in creating mathematical models able to simulate system behavior in time. DOFWARE uses Modelica / Dymola tools in order to obtain efficient and high-quality results.

In the following, some domains which this approach can be applied to:

  • Thermal: inside vehicle (both terrestrial and aerial) comfort analysis, with the focus on the energy efficiency of entire systems; CFD analysis devoted to the calibration and the validation of the models developed in Modelica;
  • Terrestrial vehicle dynamics / flight dynamics: by means of Modelica / Dymola and specialized libraries therein, behavior of several different vehicle typologies can be reproduced in response to external conditions specified by the user. When there is the need of integrating mathematical models inside drive/flight simulators, FMI interface developed by DOFWARE enables to export models to 3D real-time engines;
  • Electromechanics: system analysis for improving final result quality and stability by reducing consumptions and bugs. The coupling between Modelica and its vertical libraries with third-party software enables to perform complex studies otherwise unfeasible;
  • Multibody: time-domain mechanical analysis are performed by coupling Modelica with the most common FEM and CFD software. A standard example is the coupling between the pneumatic, the hydraulic and the electronic domains.

Embedded Control Development

Control algorithm implementation requires accurate physical models, tools able to support integrated development and an automated framework assuring traceability of the entire design process. For “Functional Safety” control algorithms such as those of the Aerospace & Defense field, regulations are extremely strict and require that the development process is traceable, verifiable and well documented.

DOFWARE provides efficient and innovative solutions for designers thanks to its tools and expertise, such as:

  • Modelica / Dymola: multi-physical plant model implementation;
  • Matlab®/Simulink®: embedded control development;
  • FMI: information transfer handling and process automation;
  • FMI Add-On for NI VeriStand® and LabVIEW®: HiL test bench development for control algorithm validation;
  • Reqtify: design requirements traceability and automated documentation editing;
  • CTC++: code/firmware coverage analysis.

Compliance to the Standards

  • Software/hardware design process assessment and compliance to the area standards such as RTCA/DO-178B (on-board software), RTCA/DO-278 (ground software) and RTCA/DO-254 (on-board hardware);
  • Software/hardware development support according to RTCA standards;
  • Avionic and armament component RAMS analysis.