Application of a Process-Oriented Build Tool to an INDI-Based Flight Control Algorithm

This paper presents the application of a process-oriented build tool to develop an exemplary flight control algorithm based on the concept of Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) for a hexacopter. Software developed for safety critical applications like flight controllers, medical devices, transport, etc. must undergo significant number of verification and validation steps to make sure that the software is safely working in according to specified requirements and does not contain any unintended functionality. This results in extensive documentation efforts but also creates a space for researchers to invent automation techniques to make the software development process simpler. The build tool applied here is based on MATLAB and Simulink framework and is used to develop the flight controller while undergoing process development steps required by aerospace safety standards. The tool ensures the smooth development of the functionality while ensuring a consistent artifact structure and end-to-end traceability. The developed controller undergoes all required verification activities, and the results are automatically aggregated using the tool to demonstrate compliance with RTCA DO-178C/331.