IASSF: A Simulation For F/A-18 Avionics Software Testing

The Integrated Avionics Systems Support Facility (IASSF) provides a simulated environment to test F/A-18 avionics, avionics software and system behaviour on the ground without the initial need for real F/A-18 flight testing. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has commissioned IASSF to allow mission critical Operational Flight Programs (OFPs) in the F/A-18 to be written, modified and tested. IASSF uses an automated and distributed architecture that has been developed to integrate the F/A-18 avionics with each other in a laboratory environment to allow the testing of the avionics software and hardware. Software models have been written to simulate avionics that cannot be stimulated correctly on the ground. IASSF contains a simulated tactical environment that allows simulated enemy aircraft to be targeted via Radar or FLIR, and simulated missiles to be launched. Intercommunications between the avionics and software models can be recorded and replayed to allow the automation of complex tests. The simulation parameters can be forced to values out of normal range to allow boundary testing of software. BAE SYSTEMS has delivered the IASSF to the commonwealth and is currently in a support phase for both maintenance and development.