Re: Ada used in General Aviation (GA) applications?

[Marin David Condic <nobody@noplace.com>]

My guess is that like most embedded systems and most commercial/military 
avionics, it will be done in just about anything but Ada. The Joint 
Strike Fighter is pretty much entirely C++ with the exception being my 
engine control and I'm losing the battle on that one.

Avionics developers don't purchase hundreds of thousands of compilers, 
so they don't drive the market. They've got to get adequate tools, 
talent and support and don't have megabucks available to just go 
home-grow it, so they start shopping around for what they can get on the 
open market and that ends up being mostly C++ these days.

If Ada wants to be a player in General Aviation avionics it needs to do 
something to either a) target & capture some more "general" market that 
will provide the $$$ that will build the tools/talent/support or b) zero 
in on the GA market and invest heavily in building everything that 
market could possibly want. The "B" option is not practical because, as 
I've observed, we avionics builders don't buy huge volumes of compilers. 
The "A" option seems to meet with a general lack of interest on the part 
of those in a position to do something about it.

My guess is that Ada isn't going to make any real headway into the 
General Aviation market because the big commercial/military aviation 
market is ignoring it in mass numbers. But perhaps if some Ada 
enthusiasts were to try to come up with some marketable General Aviation 
product that happened to be programmed in Ada it might have some 
encouraging results. You just don't see a lot of Ada entrepreneurs out 
there though. :-)

MDC


Kai Glaesner wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> there is a (silent) revolution going on in General Aviation these days. Long
> after taking over in the cockpit of military and air-transport category
> aircraft the computer now found its way into the GA airplane cockpit.
> 
> With companies like Garmin bringing state-of-the-art avionics down to
> affordable levels it wont take long until a "glass-cockpit" becomes standard
> in GA.
> 
> Now I wonder about what role Ada plays and will play in this business
> segment. I hope it's a big one but anyone out there who knows (or can make
> serious guess)?
> 
> Thanks in advane for answers
> 
> Kai
> 
> 


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Marin David Condic
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