Portable Virtual Aircraft Test System (PVATS)

TMC's reusable modeling and simulation technologies are currently utilized by NASA for enabling advanced verification and validation (V&V) and dynamic analysis of complex systems such as spacecraft and launch vehicles by executing the exact flight software binaries in a software-only test bed. These reusable technologies, already developed under a NASA contract, are also applicable to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and will provide a portable, faster-than-real-time test bed capable of dynamic analysis, fault injection, and automated testing, including Monte Carlo analysis. This test bed, named Portable Virtual Aircraft Test System (PVATS), leverages TMC's existing virtualization and modeling technologies to create a virtual environment that includes a CPU instruction set emulator and modeled UAS components such as sensors and actuators, and which executes in an automated virtual machine. The PVATS goals are to directly improve the timeliness and thoroughness of test and evaluation outcomes while reducing costs and increasing UAS flight software assurance. The three targeted goals are 1) V&V of UAS flight software, 2) Assist UAS software development and early testing by providing many portable virtual test environments to developers, and 3) Training of UAS operators using a virtual environment.