by Joy Finnegan | Oct 18, 2023 | Avionics, Connectivity
Aireon is set to expand its data product and services portfolio, bolstered by a new credit facility from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
Having already established itself as the best-in-class provider of accurate, reliable, and global ADS-B data, Aireon is leveraging its market-leading position to drive innovation in data analytics and products for the global airspace. Under this new credit facility, Aireon will invest in advanced data analytic capabilities and visualization tools, aimed at driving increases in safety, efficiency, and environmental responsibility for its customers.
“This new credit facility marks an important milestone for Aireon as we take the next steps as a company. In the 11 years since Aireon was created, we have become a critical part of the aviation infrastructure. And now, we are increasing our investment in the business to create new value-added aviation data products for the industry,” said Don Thoma, Aireon CEO.
“This credit facility with GIP replaces another credit facility that was put in place before the Aireon service went operational. Since that time, Aireon has grown and evolved and so have our financial needs. This new facility matches that evolution and our future growth plans,” Thoma added.
“The investment represents the eighth investment made under GIP’s Spectrum strategy. The GIP Spectrum strategy provides customized capital solutions for infrastructure projects and companies in GIP’s core areas of focus, while leveraging GIP’s significant operating expertise,” said Wesley Altman, principal at GIP Credit. “This financing is consistent with GIP Credit’s strategy of seeking to invest in high-quality critical infrastructure assets with attractive cash flow characteristics.”
Global Infrastructure Partners, a leading infrastructure investor that specializes in investing in, owning, and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and water and waste management sectors, is a proven supporter of key infrastructure companies and projects around the world, including companies in the aviation, oil and gas, renewable energy, transportation, water, and telecommunications industries. GIP’s aviation investments include Edinburgh Airport, Gatwick Airport, Sydney Airport, and Signature Aviation.
“Global Infrastructure Partners was a natural fit to help Aireon usher in this new era of growth and innovation,” said Rich Nyren, Aireon chief financial officer. “Their expertise in the transportation and digital infrastructure sectors, coupled with their commitment to helping businesses deliver high-quality products and services to their customers, make them the perfect partner for us.”
by Joy Finnegan | Oct 11, 2023 | Avionics
rimec Aviation, a certified FAA Part 145 Repair Station (#18TR248C) and Universal Avionics (UA) are completing the first Falcon 2000/EX aircraft Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) with UA’s InSight Flight Display System. The newly installed system replaces the Pro Line 4 and includes SBAS-Flight Management Systems, Universal’s Connectivity Ecosystem, and UniLink Communications Management system which supports RNP 0.3 instrument approaches and CPDLC, digital clearances, FANS 1A+, and ATN B1.
“We are proud of our Fort Worth technical team for making this possible and look forward to welcoming other Falcon 2000/EX operators looking for a solution for their aging and obsolete avionics,” said Mike Rabadi, Trimec Aviation president and CEO. “This upgrade will not only increase the value of their asset but improve operating efficiency, enhance pilot safety, and increase the aircraft’s available payload.”
John Holland, Trimec Aviation meneral manager, said, “It’s exciting to reach the final stage of this important STC for Falcon 2000/EX operators. The CDUs and FMS for the Pro Line 4 are irreplaceable and are no longer supported so this is a timely solution that Trimec is ready to provide. We look forward to talking with owners and operators of these Falcon’s at NBAA-BACE and invite them to see us at #N3431.”
“We are thrilled to deliver a modern, sustainable solution for the Falcon 2000/EX in partnership with Trimec Aviation,”said Dror Yahav, Universal Avionics CEO. “The InSight Display System has achieved certification on a variety of business jets, upgrading them to the latest available operational capabilities and significantly extending the aircraft’s longevity for years to come.”
Trimec Aviation was recognized as an Outstanding Dealer of the Year for 2022 by Universal Avionics and continues to build on its foundation as an innovative avionics solution provider with this new STC.
by Joy Finnegan | Oct 11, 2023 | Avionics
DDC-I and wolfSSL announced the availability of version 5.0 of the wolfSSL embedded SSL library, wolfCrypt cryptography library and certification kit, and wolfBoot secure boot loader for DDC-I’s Deos DO-178 safety-critical real-time operating system. The Deos RTOS equipped with DAL-A-certifiable wolfSSL, wolfCrypt and wolfBoot enables avionics developers to quickly add secure, encrypted, FIPS 140-2-certified data transport communications and secure boot loading to their avionics systems.
Deos provides a robust foundation for secure systems, its modularity, hard partitioning, denial of dynamic operations, integrity checks, and controlled interprocess communications making it the preferred environment for high assurance systems. The addition of wolfSSL, wolfCrypt, and wolfBoot provides the proper cryptographic underpinnings for secure data transport, boot and firmware upgrades. Together, Deos and the wolf suite bring trusted, military-grade security to connected avionics systems, making it ideal for not only military systems, but also urban air mobility and next generation commercial avionics systems.
“WolfSSL and Deos bring trusted, military-grade security to connected commercial and military aircraft,” said Bob Morris, President and CEO at DDC-I. “Advanced safety-critical features like time/space partitioning and the ability to support multiple isolated TCP/IP stacks make Deos an excellent platform for deploying avionics applications that utilize wolfSSL capabilities like secure boot, FIPS 140-2 crypto and secure TCP/IP technologies.”
“The integration of Deos should prove very attractive to avionics developers who require a secure, out-of-the-box, safety-critical solution that comes ready to certify, complete with DAL A evidence,” said Larry Stefonic, CEO and Founder at wolfSSL. “We have a very strong working relationship with DDC-I and have found Deos to be quite straightforward to work with. Together, I believe we offer our joint customers a world class platform that features best-in-class RTOS and security.”
The wolfSSL embedded SSL library is a lightweight, portable, C language-based SSL/TLS library that targets embedded and RTOS environments for connected applications such as avionics. Featuring FIPS 140-2 certified cryptography, the compact library supports industry standards up to TLS 1.3 and DTLS 1.2, is up to 20 times smaller than OpenSSL, offers a simple API, provides an OpenSSL compatibility layer, and includes OCSP and CRL support.
To facilitate DO-178C level A certification, the wolfCrypt certification kit provides traceable artifacts for the following encryption algorithms: SHA-256 message digest; AES encryption and decryption; RSA for signing and verifying messages; and chacha20_poly1305 for authenticated encryption and decryption. Any of the FIPS 140-2 validated crypto algorithms can be used in DO-178 mode for combined FIPS 140-2/DO 178 consumption.
wolfBoot is a portable secure bootloader that offers firmware authentication and firmware update mechanisms. Upon installing a verified update, wolfBoot creates a backup copy of the last firmware image known to work correctly. If the new version is not confirmed by the application, or if the image installed is somehow corrupted, the bootloader will restore the state of the system before the most recent update.
Deos is a safety-critical embedded RTOS that employs patented cache partitioning, memory pools, and safe scheduling to deliver higher CPU utilization than any other certifiable safety-critical COTS RTOS on multi-core processors. First certified to DO-178 DAL A in 1998, Deos provides certified conformant FACE OSS Safety Base and Safety Extended Profiles that feature hard real-time response, time and space partitioning, with support for Rate Monotonic, ARINC-653 and POSIX interfaces.
SafeMC technology extends Deos’ advanced capabilities to multiple cores, enabling developers of safety-critical systems to achieve best in class multi-core performance without compromising safety critical task response and guaranteed execution time. SafeMC employs a bound multiprocessing (BMP) extension of the symmetric multiprocessing architecture (SMP), safe scheduling, and cache partitioning to minimize cross-core contention and interference patterns that affect the performance, safety criticality and certifiability of multi-core systems. These features enable avionics systems developers to address issues that could impact the safety, performance and integrity of a software airborne system as specified by the Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST).
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 27, 2023 | Avionics, Innovation
Greene Tweed is highlighting the availability of Xycomp DLF high-performance thermoplastic composite aerospace brackets, which the company says can endure the substantial demands of aerospace environments while offering significant weight savings over metallic parts. Greene Tweed aerospace production components have been flying since 2011 and at 35 to 60 percent lighter than competitive metallic components, the brackets are an excellent replacement for metal materials.
Greene Tweed’s proprietary compression molding system provides high performance solutions with increased part complexity. The aerospace brackets, which are used to join structural elements together, provide support, and hold essential components firmly in place, can now be produced in complex-contour shapes for near-net, intricate geometry with molded-in features such as bushings or attachment points.
The material meets fire, smoke, and toxicity (FST) safety requirements for interior aerospace parts, and offers excellent resistance to aerospace solvents, high temperatures, and high vibrations for extended component life. In addition, Xycomp DLF brackets can be recycled upon removal from an aircraft.
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 20, 2023 | Avionics
DDC-I, a leading supplier of software and professional services for mission- and safety-critical applications, announced that it has completed multicore DO-178C verification to Design Assurance Level A (DAL A) for its Deos DO-178C safety-critical real-time operating system (RTOS) on multiple ARM and PowerPC processors. Deos now provides an off-the-shelf set of DAL-A artifacts for a broad range of ARM and PowerPC multicore processors, including the PowerPC e6500 core and the ARM-based Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC, NXP QorIQ, Layerscape, S32 (automotive), and iMX processor families. This is the second verified baseline of DDC-I’s multicore kernel technology to DO-178C DAL-A. Verification for Intel’s I7 Tiger Lake and Texas Instruments’ Jacinto are planned for release in the next verified baseline.
“DDC-I has been at the forefront of DO-178C multicore technology development, standardization and verification, with an emphasis on satisfying the CAST-32A and AMC 20-193 objectives for safety-critical operation,” said Greg Rose, vice president of marketing at DDC-I. “Further, Deos takes a different approach to multicore processing versus other certifiable RTOSs by providing technology to reduce cross core interference rather than relying on draconian safety nets as the primary bounding mechanism. Our unique multicore features enable our customers to achieve the highest level of safety-critical operation in the gamut of avionics applications from highly deterministic FADECs and flight controls, to complex high throughput displays and mission computers.”
Deos is a safety-critical embedded RTOS that uses patented technology to deliver the highest possible CPU utilization on multi-core processors. First certified to DO-178 DAL A in 1998, Deos features hard real-time response, time and space partitioning, ARINC-653 and POSIX interfaces and conformance to the FACE™ technical specification v3.1 for the Safety Extended and Safety Base Profiles. With an emphasis on safety-critical multicore applications, Deos scales well for all compute- and I/O intensive avionics applications such as those requiring data fusion, and other advanced control and sensor functionality.
DDC-I’s SafeMC technology extends Deos’ advanced capabilities to multiple cores, enabling developers of safety-critical systems to achieve best in class multicore performance without compromising safety-critical task response and guaranteed execution time. SafeMC employs a bound multiprocessing (BMP) architecture, safe scheduling, and cache partitioning to minimize cross-core contention and interference patterns that affect the performance, safety and certifiability of multi-core systems. The patented cache partitioning technology is unique to Deos and enables L2/L3 cache segregation at a per-application level. This feature bounds cache jitter to dramatically improve worse-case execution times. Then as a final line of defense against run-bound operation, customers can employ the safety nets of bandwidth restriction for resource over utilization, which protects against catastrophic error conditions. These features enable avionics system developers to address issues that could impact the integrity, safety, performance, and the burden associated with the certification of a multi-core airborne system.
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 18, 2023 | Avionics
Core Avionics & Industrial Inc. (CoreAVI) announced the availability of Dynamic Temperature Range (DTR) screening and DO-254 safety certification package, with the 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor to support military, aerospace, urban air mobility and other high reliability markets. CoreAVI will provide special DTR-screened versions of the 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor with thermal throttling fused off to ensure deterministic operation. The Intel Airworthiness Evidence Package (Intel AEP) – a DO-254 data package created by Intel to support their hardware’s safety certification – is also available from CoreAVI.
In addition, CoreAVI provides their safety critical software portfolio capable of achieving RTCA DO-178C DAL A. CoreAVI’s support for the 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor includes its VkCore SC Vulkan SCTM- based graphics and compute driver, VkCoreGL SC1/SC2 OpenGL SCTM1 and OpenGL SCTM2 libraries, TrueCoreTM GPU safety monitor, ComputeCoreTM libraries that provide a safety critical framework to support accelerated GPU compute, vision systems and safe AI, as well as EncodeCore and DecodeCore H.265/H.264 encode and decode libraries. CoreAVI’s safety critical software stack combined with the 11th Gen Intel Core hardware enables a low-risk, safety certifiable graphics and compute platform with excellent performance per watt that scales across a wide range of application requirements such as mission computers, autonomous systems, and augmented vision and detection systems with 20+ years longevity of supply.
The 11th Gen Intel Core processor incorporates the Intel Iris Xe graphics. With up to 4 CPU cores, 4 X 4K displays and extended temperature ratings, the Intel Core i7-1186GRE processors from Intel’s embedded roadmap offers scalable power, anti-malware hardware (CET) enhanced security, and the high-performance gains ideal for the advanced parallel processing required in today’s avionics and industrial applications.
“We are proud of this collaboration with Intel that allows us to provide DTR screened versions of 11th Gen Intel Core processors and support for DO-254 to effectively enable our customers,” said Dan Joncas, chief sales and marketing officer at CoreAVI. “Our extensive software suite paired with the processing power of the 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor provides integrators with the complete set of tools they need to reach the highest levels of safety criticality in airborne applications.”
“Customers creating next generation mission critical computers need to improve program risk, development costs and timelines,” said Ian Ferguson VP Marketing and Strategic Alliances, Lynx Software Technologies. “We feel that our partnership with CoreAVI around the creation and delivery of software and hardware certification packages for 11th Gen Intel Core processors is critical to enabling this.”
“We view the screening of DTR function within Intel’s 11th Gen SoC as critical for many use cases within the avionics industry,” said Peter Mueller, VP EPC Modules at Kontron. “DTR screening is supported by Kontron’s COMe cTL6 module and we pride ourselves in providing our customers with best in modern aerospace technology for their next-gen safety critical applications.”
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