Low-level memory and timing analysis of flight code for unmanned aerial systems

Abstract

The development of flight software for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is challenging due to the absence of an established development process defined by aerospace certification authorities. This research paper outlines our methods and tools for analyzing flight-critical UAS control software on the target hardware. We present our toolchain and methodology for evaluating the flight control computer stack, runtime memory, and timing characteristics. Additionally, we compare the performance of the flight control computer under various hardware and cache settings to justify, which hardware features should be enabled. The tools and processes employed in this research are deployable to any other development environment and are not restricted to the specific target hardware used in this paper.