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MATLAB in the World
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Aerospace and Defense
by Rosemary Oxenford, John Binder, and Jim Tung
Aerospace engineers must develop and deploy sophisticated, mission-critical components for aircraft, spacecraft, missile, and propulsion systems while integrating their work with teams involved with other parts of the design. They also need to handle and comprehend the huge amounts of test data and other data generated during their work. Major aerospace and defense contractors, subcontractors, research institutions, and defense agencies worldwide use MathWorks products to analyze data, model and simulate
Designing
and Testing the Joint Strike Fighter
Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, is using MathWorks products to design
and test the flight-control system for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
Using a model-based design approach with Simulink and Stateflow, the flight-control
engineers are developing control laws that are common to the conventional
takeoff and landing (CTOL), carrier-based (CV), and short takeoff/vertical
landing (STOVL) variants of the F-35 JSF. Automatically generated code from
Real-Time Workshop will be used in a multitude of aircraft simulators and
in the embedded flight code residing in the Vehicle Management Computer.
Design engineers are using MATLAB to rapidly perform flying-qualities and
stability analysis. In addition, MATLAB will be used to read and analyze
vast amounts of test data generated during the F-35 flight test program. www.lmaeronautics.com 
Simulating Controls for an Engine Performance Test Bench
The French aircraft engine manufacturer SNECMA MOTEURS, through its subsidiary,
HISPANO-SUIZA, used model-based design to develop engine control laws and
test routines for their packaging, handling, and transportation (PHT) test
platform. On one program, they used MATLAB, Simulink, and Real-Time Workshop
to create a model of the engine and the PHT test bench facility. This 5,000-block
model described the engine using Simulink blocks, legacy Fortran code, updated
control laws, and a newly developed malfunction detection algorithm. The
test bench included parts of an existing Simulink bench model. HISPANO-SUIZA
validated the model's behavior in offline and real-time multiprocessor simulation
with physical I/O. They then replaced components of the test bench model
with the corresponding physical parts in a real-time simulation loop. Finally,
they used the test bench computer to test the engine under specific operating
conditions. www.snecma.com
Developing
and Testing Satellite Flight-Control Code
SENER Ingenieria y Sistemas in Spain developed the attitude control system
(ACS) of the Minisat-01 satellite. The ACS controls the three-axis, sun-pointing
attitude of the satellite in orbit, as well as its spin and rotation along
the sun line. The ACS software had to be less than 100 KB in size and written,
tested, and integrated with other systems on a single, onboard, 16-MHz Intel
386 processor in less than 14 months on a budget of only $1.3 million. To
meet these requirements, SENER used Simulink and Real-Time Workshop to develop
real-time flight code while simultaneously designing and testing algorithms.
They also built a simulator that ran 20 times faster than real time, enabling
them to simulate almost a full year in orbit-half the satellite's mission-before
the satellite was launched. www.sener.es
Developing
Fault-Protection Code for a Robotic Spacecraft
Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery mission to explore beneath the surface of
a comet. In July 2005, it will send a 370-kilogram projectile into Comet
P/Tempel 1, creating a crater as big as a football field and as deep as a
seven-story building. A camera and infrared spectrometer on the spacecraft
will study the dusty, icy debris blasted out of the comet. NASA engineers
are using MATLAB and Stateflow to develop a fault protection system that
monitors the response and behavior of the spacecraft. System engineers are
now coding the fault protection system's behavior using Stateflow. They use
MATLAB to develop scripts to test all logic paths and to test the software
on a target that is similar to the actual flight processor. http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov
Designing
a Weapon Simulation System
The Weapons Systems Division at DSTO in Australia has adopted MSTARS as
its six-degrees-of-freedom weapon simulation system. Simulink is one of the
primary modeling environments used to develop MSTARS. Designed for the rapid
prototyping of new guided bomb and missile concepts and for evaluating new
technology performance, MSTARS includes libraries of munition subsystems
representing the accelerometer, rate gyro, autopilot, seeker, inertial navigation
system, control surfaces, and air vehicles, with complete six-degrees-of-freedom
flight dynamics. Simplified models of a launch aircraft and threat target
are also incorporated into the com- ponent library. MSTARS is currently being
used in a cooperative effort by Australia, Canada, the United States, and
the United Kingdom. www.dsto.defence.gov.au
Controlling
Vibration in Space
Sheet Dynamics, Ltd. (SDL) in Cincinnati, Ohio, developed a vibration controller
for the Mid-Deck Active Control Experiment (MACE II), a test bed aboard the
International Space Station that supports military targeting applications.
The MACE II vibration controller is based on spatio-temporal filtering (STF),
a technology that uses adaptive algorithms and structure-mounted sensors
to track or control individual modes of vibration. SDL used DSPdeveloper,
a software tool based on MATLAB and Simulink, to analyze spacecraft vibration,
simulate STF-based control systems, and create adaptive algorithms. Real-Time
Workshop and DSPdeveloper enabled SDL to automatically generate the flight
code for the controller from Simulink models and compile, download, and run
the algorithms on DSP hardware in real time. www.sdltd.com
Designing
and Implementing a Radar Signal Processor
The Systems and Defense Electronics division of EADS (The European Aeronautics
Defence and Space Agency), based in Ulm, Germany, designed a radar signal
processor that was subsequently implemented on an FPGA (field programmable
gate array) microchip. A crucial part of the EADS surveillance radar system,
the processor is a prototype for the next generation of signal processors
for ships and aircraft. It includes components for pulse compression, a Doppler
filter, and target-detection software. The complete design was simulated
in MATLAB and Simulink using blocks to characterize Xilinx core functions.
It was then implemented on a PMC module using the Xilinx System Generator.
The result is a deployed system that is up to 4 times more compact than previous
versions. www.eads.net
Designing
and Testing the Autopilot for a Mine-Disposal Submersible
BAE SYSTEMS, Underwater Weapons Division, used a model-based design approach
and rapid prototyping to develop an autopilot for a remotely operated submersible.
BAE SYSTEMS designed this novel mine disposal system just like the flight
control system of an aircraft. Working in Simulink, system engineers developed
dynamic models of the vehicle that wereused in the design and initial testing
of the control system. They then created real-time simulation models to assess
handling qualities with a pilot in the loop. Finally, they used Real-Time
Workshop to generate code for hardware-in-the-loop testing and initial trials. www.baesystems.com
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