Simulink(R) Generated Code Powers New Simulation
The MathWorks and
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company announced on Monday that their
collaborative work has led to the successful completion of the
first simulated test flight of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)
using Simulink(R) generated code. Lockheed Martin's Chief Test
Pilot, Jon Beesley, conducted an unrestricted evaluation flight in
the F-35 real-time simulator lasting over two hours, performing a
wide range of maneuvers. He exercised the sophisticated flight
control laws designed and generated by Lockheed Martin's JSF Flight
Control Application Software team using MATLAB(R), Simulink,
Stateflow(R), and Real-Time Workshop(R) Embedded Coder from The
MathWorks.
"Jon was given freedom to fly the aircraft through maneuvers
such as landing, formation, in-flight refueling, and basic
stability and control tests. The control law software performed
flawlessly throughout these tests, a notable outcome for simulated
flights using a new toolset. Performance results were very good and
we identified several minor items for refinement," said Greg
Walker, JSF Flight Control Application Software IPT lead, Lockheed
Martin. "Using The MathWorks tools, we were able to develop and
test the control laws, automatically generate code, and, as a
result, complete this milestone on our way to first flight."
The F-35 is considered
the single most important new military aircraft to be produced over
the next 30 years. The program will deploy 2,593 aircraft for the
U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.K. Royal Air Force,
and U.K. Royal Navy. The F-35 family includes a conventional
takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, an aircraft carrier version
(CV), and a short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant, which
provide challenging requirements for the flight-control system.
Using a model-based design approach with Simulink and Stateflow,
the flight-control engineers have developed the control techniques
and generated the software to address those challenging
requirements while reducing software development costs.
Additionally, F-35 engineers will use MATLAB to rapidly perform
flying- qualities and stability analysis, and to analyze the vast
amounts of test data generated during the F-35 flight test
program.
"We have worked closely with Lockheed Martin for several years
to enable them to create advanced control design systems technology
for the JSF project," said Paul Barnard, control design automation
marketing director, The MathWorks. "Together, we drove enhancements
so their engineers can work with significantly larger models and
dramatically reduce their downtime when modeling, simulating, and
implementing their designs. These enhancements are now incorporated
in Simulink 5.1, the latest release."