by Jørgen Andersen,
Jørgen Andersen, a former employee of Honeywell, was
instrumental in choosing DDC-I technology for the 777 program, but was not an
active participant in the compiler development.
In November 1985 an interface began between DDC-I and the
Sperry Flight Systems (SFS) to prepare for a joint introduction of Ada to air
transport avionics. The target application was the Fly-by-Wire system for the
Boeing 7J7, which at that time was on the drawing board. In spite of the fact
that Boeing abandoned the 7J7 and that later Honeywell took over SFS, the
cooperative work with DDC-I continued. First, in a joint activity to document
the Intel 80x86 Ada Run-Time System to a level required for certification under
DO-I 78B (FAA's guideline document for avionics software). Later, in a full
scale cross compiler development effort targeting the AMD 29050 micro processor
chip. This chip was selected after the Intel 80x86 architectures were excluded
as being not technologically ideal for use in the Boeing 777 Airplane
Information Management System to integrate far more discrete avionics components
than any existing installation in a commercial airliner.
Excellent support was provided for the compiler development
project by the staff of DDC-I, Phoenix & Copenhagen as well as Honeywell engineers. A
quality compiler and its complex environment was produced. The proof of quality
was that the system scored a jackpot (as in "777") in the May flight
tests, which were accomplished with no squawks on the Ada software and support
systems. ("Squawk" is the sound of the chief test pilot hitting the
cockpit ceiling).
Traditionally, the first flight tests of a new Boeing plane
take place close to home in the triangle formed by Seattle, Portland and Moses
Lake. This rather small area offers a sufficient variety of basic flight
planning, navigation aid installations, and available airports to challenge most
of the avionics systems during the initial test phases with short hops at
usually below 20,000 feet altitude. It even contains an ancient Indian burial
ground that, in accordance with Boeing mythology, can wreak havoc on aircraft
systems during overflight. Ada appears to have survived the curse.
Later, flight tests will be on a worldwide scale to verify
that all roads go south on the north pole, that the equator still exists and
that the complex airplane information management system is able to sort out all
geographic discrepancies and equipment or human interface problems that may crop
up in the global picture, such as the very widely spaced navigation aids across
Africa, an occasionally missing, or maybe misleading directional signal outside
of Hong Kong, and even the confusing state of EuroControl.
In 1995, the first Boeing 777 revenue
flight, in United Airlines' livery, departed for a non-stop flight from
Denver to Hawaii, allegedly with the top executives of all vendors on board.
February 27, 1997 - Phoenix Arizona -- Honeywell Inc. awarded the
Honeywell Ada Development System (HADS) team their highest technical
award. The team consisted of 13 engineers, 5 of which are employees of DDC-I
.
Honeywell’s Air Transport Systems division - Phoenix, AZ, the major
supplier of the cockpit avionics on the Boeing 777, was given the
responsibility for developing the Airplane Information Management System
(AIMS), the largest central computer system on the plane.
Honeywell’s decision to select DDC-I as the compiler vendor for this
project was largely based on DDC-I’s willingness to work closely with
Honeywell. DDC-I understood Honeywell's need to have access to the
development engineers who are specialists in the various tools around the
compiler. Having DDC-I engineers as part of the Honeywell team helped
shorten the development cycle.
HADS team awarded highest technical award. The project
was done in close cooperation with DDC-I.
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