Jun 3 2014
Wind River®, a world leader in delivering software for intelligent connected systems, congratulates the U.S. Navy, Northrop Grumman, and the X-47B industry team for winning the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy, considered aviation’s highest honor.
Wind River is one of the key technology suppliers on the joint industry team for the X-47B UCAS program, with its VxWorks® real-time operating system (RTOS) serving as the software platform for the program.
The Robert J. Collier Trophy is awarded annually for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles whose value has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year. The 2013 Collier Trophy was formally presented to the U.S. Navy, Northrop Grumman, and the X-47B industry team at the annual Robert J. Collier Trophy dinner on May 29.
“The X-47B program is the product of extraordinary vision and relentless execution. The Navy and our entire industry team have been formidable partners in developing an aircraft that many thought impossible," said Carl Johnson, vice president of Northrop Grumman's UCAS organization.
In 2013, the X-47B made history by being the first tailless, unmanned aircraft to land on and take off from an aircraft carrier. To date, the X-47B has completed eight catapult launches off a carrier, 30 touch-and-goes, and seven arrested landings. Later this year, the X-47B will return to sea for more testing aboard an aircraft carrier.
This is not the first significant recognition of the X-47B UCAS program. Earlier this year, Aviation Week, the industry's largest information and services provider, recognized the X-47B UCAS program with the Laureate Award for "extraordinary achievements" in aeronautics and propulsion. The team also received the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award as one of “10 Innovators Who Changed the World in 2013.”
“These are extraordinary achievements, and we are proud that our VxWorks RTOS is a key technology for this aircraft, and honored to be a part of the X-47B industry team,” said Jim Douglas, senior vice president of marketing at Wind River. “With Wind River technology, Northrop Grumman engineers were able to rapidly create, deploy, and maintain the safety critical control system.”
The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman X-47B team joins several past Robert J. Collier Trophy recipients who were Wind River customers, such as NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL), a Wind River customer using VxWorks as the foundation for the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity’s central computing system.
To learn more about Wind River aerospace and defense solutions, visit http://windriver.com/solutions/aerospace-defense/. For more information on Wind River’s technology leadership in unmanned systems visit www.windriver.com/unmanned/.
Source: http://www.windriver.com/