Introduction
A prime vendor for NASA and other space agencies around the world, Globe Aerospace & Technologies Corporation (a fictional name) is a leader in the aerospace industry. The company designs a variety of intricate technology to support spacecraft operation and collection of scientific data. Space technology must address a number of unique requirements that are not necessary with earthbound technology, and Globe engineers find themselves working with rare hardware components and designing software that is equally uncommon. With these challenges in mind, Globe counts on specially engineered development tools like Cleanscape Software's the XTC-1750A, a "C"cross-development environment for MIL-SPEC-1750A processors.
Globe Designs SAGE III Instrument for NASA
Globe found it advantageous to use Cleanscape's XTC-1750A tool during the development of a satellite instrument, called SAGE III, which uses a MIL-SPEC 1750A processor. SAGE III was designed to monitor the earth?s atmosphere. Globe's software team developed the software for the processor and the instrument, which manages communication to the spacecraft, coordinates instrument operation, collects scientific data from detectors, packages the data and stores it in the solid state recorder for later transmission to the ground. Three flights are currently planned with the SAGE III instrument including a Russian Meteor 3M platform launch in late 2000 and the International Space Station in 2002.
"We had specified the military standard 1750A processor because of its ability to withstand a high radiation environment," explained "Daryl" (a fictional name), Principal Software Engineer for Globe Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, "so we actually had only two software development environments we could choose from. The first option was ADA, which has been the traditional development for a 1750A processor. The second option was "C", which is more commonly used for other software applications." Since ADA was the default language for that type of processor, the Globe engineers would be faced with the task of finding a comparable development environment in "C", if they chose to use that language.
Cleanscape Provides Essential "C" Compiler
Globe chose to develop the software for the 1750A processor in C, which made the Cleanscape XTC-1750A tool critical to the development process. "Our main reason for going that route is that we felt we would be able to find software developers who were experts in "C" more quickly than we would find developers who were highly proficient in ADA," said "Daryl".
"C is a more predominant language than ADA," he continued. "It is taught more often in colleges. Specifically at Globe, a majority of our software development has been in 'C', so we have access to a number of software engineers who know the language. If we went with ADA, those same engineers would have to go through a learning curve or we would be forced to search for engineers with more experience in ADA, which would have been more difficult and time consuming." The bottom line was that "Daryl" found they would be able to meet the schedule more effectively by writing the software in "C".
"This processor is not very common, so developing software for it is a fairly unique process," "Daryl" added. "Consequently, the tool sets for these processors are not very common. As far as I know, Cleanscape's XTC-1750A is the only 'C'compiler available that will work for this type of processor."
Globe Completes Project with Cleanscape Tools
"The Cleanscape XTC-1750A was essential to the successful conclusion of this custom project for NASA," said "Daryl". "This tool set enabled us to complete our design and meet our delivery schedule. It provided the compiler and the libraries we needed to develop our application for this target."
The Globe engineers found Cleanscape to be very easy to use. "The software is not overly complicated and our developers could come up to speed on it very quickly," "Daryl" noted. "In addition, the 1750 provided drivers that allowed us to customize the development environment for our application. We were able to tweak some of the parameters and make the low level interfacing easier."
The XTC-1750A tool set also includes a source level debugger, which Globe used in their development of the data command and telemetry control processor. "The Cleanscape debugger was of great value to us," said "Daryl". "In general, if you have a source line debugger you can troubleshoot problems quickly. The other option is to use a logic analyzer to debug your code, but the source line debugger is much more efficient, enabling more effective debugging in less time."
Cleanscape Tech Support Offers Quick Response
"The technical support we experienced from Cleanscape was superior," said "Daryl". "When we did find a problem, they were very responsive in getting it corrected for us. We would call with a question or a problem and usually we would get a call back in an hour or so; while with other vendors, you might hear back a couple days later. I have to say that is one of the best things about this product line -- the tech support is excellent."
About Globe Aerospace & Technologies Corporation
Globe Aerospace & Technologies Corporation is based in the Western USA. The company provides imaging, communications and information systems, products, software, and services to government aerospace customers, such as NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense, and prime contractors in the commercial aerospace industry. The company's core expertise is in producing systems which convert observable phenomena, across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, into usable electronic data. The company has state-of-the-art facilities including the in-house capability to design, build, and test a complete space system from payload to satellite bus and ground control.
About Cleanscape Software International
Cleanscape Software International is a leading innovator of automated software development and testing solutions that simplify build environments for enabling customers to shorten development cycles, optimize resource utilization, increase product quality, and boost Return on Investment.
Cleanscape's product line includes: qef build management system; test automation tool kits for software system, unit, and coverage testing; Cleanscape FortranLint & lint-Plus static source code analyzers; XTC-1750A cross-development environment for MIL-SPEC-1750A processors.
