Astrium Selects AdaCore’s GNAT Pro and PolyORB for International Space Station

GNAT Pro and PolyORB are being used to facilitate efficient, reliable communication across the Ada applications that Astrium developed for Columbus ground and on-board applications. PolyORB also supplies Astrium’s developers with the interoperability necessary for CGS, allowing for equally seamless integration of software systems written in Java or C++.

The CGS was first built as a test and checkout system, in Ada, to test and qualify the Columbus laboratory on the ground, and it continues to be used as a monitoring and control system for the Columbus laboratory and the European payloads integrated in Columbus at the Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen and various payload operation centres spread across Europe. More specifically, the CGS is an integrated software toolset that is used as the common software in all operational European ground facilities. It links together the processes and phases of development, integration, test and operations, eliminating incompatibilities in the work flow.

To carry out the Ada development of CGS, Astrium selected the GNAT Pro development environment. This product includes tools that take advantage of Ada’s properties to perform additional static and dynamic analysis, reaching even higher levels of reliability. For the middleware implementation of the CGS, Astrium selected the PolyORB toolset. PolyORB provides distribution services through standard programming interfaces and communication protocols. It addresses distribution model interoperability issues by allowing a single middleware instance to efficiently support multiple personalities executing simultaneously. Its modular architecture, emphasising code reuse, allows the definition and deployment of middleware configurations that are specially adapted for real-time, high integrity applications.

“Heterogeneity in modern systems is an increasing reality, driving strong requirements in terms of interoperability,” explains Quentin Ochem, Technical Account Manager at AdaCore. “PolyORB provides an integrated solution, allowing the interconnection of components developed using the Ada programming language with software developed by other providers on different technologies, guaranteeing the longevity of the development investments.”

“The usage of CORBA allows us to use our well-proven Ada applications in a complex operation scenario in connection with other ground products. With PolyORB, we now get all major Ada development tools and components from one source. The competent support of the AdaCore team and the high quality of the AdaCore products helped us in selecting the PolyORB middleware,” states Stephan Marz, software engineer at Astrium.

By selecting AdaCore’s products, Astrium has found a valuable ‘one-shop’ solution for both the Ada development and the middleware implementation of the CGS. The expert advice and unmatched product support that AdaCore offers can take into account the needs of Astrium’s Ada developers, and also answers the challenges Astrium faces creating robust software that functions efficiently across the many different systems created by the international community at work on the ISS.