Software: Complex system? Model-Based Design’s got it covered
FRIEDMAN: The Swedish Space Corpora- tion reused about 70 percent of the atti- tude control models that they developed for the SMART system. The other thing that they did [was to] generate code not just for production flight control, but [for] for real-time simulation. And on this par- ticular project, the engineers generated code from the plant models, not just from the controller model, and deployed that to the MathWorks real-time environment called xPC Target. They were then able to run real-time simulations of the spacecraft control and to verify that it met the overall requirements and real-time constraints.
Where did the compiler fit in with the satellite project?
FRIEDMAN: In this case, the engineers built a MATLAB application to display and analyze some of their satellite flight data, and they used the MATLAB com- piler to deploy that application. So that data coming in off the satellite was sent through a compiled MATLAB applica- tion, and displayed the analysis results to the engineers. This particular project also had a degree of difficulty because it was autonomous formation flying, where there were multiple satellites that needed to fly
Size, Weight, and
in a particular formation. The controller allowed them to verify that capability.
How would you contrast this methodology and this customer specifically with how, say, JPL would have done it with one of the Rovers?
FRIEDMAN: JPL engineers did use [automatic code generation] for the Mars Rovers Model-Based Design. And also for one of their earlier satellites, they used automatic code generation. I would describe JPL and those engineers as the leading edge.
This all sounds great, but are there any drawbacks, perceived or otherwise, in automating so much of the design process?
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FRIEDMAN: Somebody once asked me, “These tools seem to automate a lot of things. Are you trying to automate out the engineer?” Not at all. That’s the furthest thing from our minds at MathWorks. It’s about trying to automate the things that can be automated so engineers can be freed up to be creative and solve problems and not have to redo every- thing over and over again. Traditionally, an engineer would build a simulation model of an algorithm, then hand it off to another engineer who would write the code for that algorithm. In this scenario, there’s potential for misunder- standing what was specified and there’s potential that the code is wrong. I think automatic code generation, test vector generation, and property proving aren’t about taking the human out of that process: They’re about adding tools to the engineer’s quiver.
Dr. Jon Friedman is the aerospace & defense and automotive industry marketing manager at MathWorks. Prior to joining MathWorks, he worked at Ford Motor Company and as an independent consultant on projects for Delphi, General Motors, Chrysler, and the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM). He holds a B.S.E., M.S.E., and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration, all from the University of Michigan. Contact him at
jon.friedman@
mathworks.com.
OpenVPX is a trademark of VITA For more information, visit
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