Qt Group makes defence UI development faster/cheaper
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Qt Group has launched a new version of the Qt Framework, Qt for MOSA, that has completed the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Certification process. The certification brings the same benefits of advanced functionality and cost efficiencies to defence ground and air vehicle programs that Qt brings to cross-platform user interface (UI) development in other industries.
Many tools exist for building user interfaces in aerospace and defence devices with safety requirements; however, most rely on low-level custom code. The Qt FACE Conformant framework, Qt for MOSA, offers a comprehensive and streamlined solution that accelerates development while ensuring advanced cross-platform functionality and compliance.
The FACE Technical Standard is an open standard to streamline the software computing environment for defence systems. To address the need for frequent modular upgrades in software systems, the FACE Technical Standard is the result of collaboration among the FACE Consortium, the US and UK governments, and industry. The requirements of the FACE Technical Standard ensure the development of software components that are portable, interoperable, and reusable across different platforms and vendors. A key benefit of the Qt Framework is its rich history of interoperability across many operating systems and embedded devices. Bringing FACE Conformance to the Qt Framework enables it to be used in developing component applications that integrate into complex composite systems, such as armoured vehicles and airborne surveillance sensor suites.
Built on a modified version of Qt, the FACE Conformant framework provides an abstraction above the FACE Operating System Segment, which only provides a limited set of low-level system and graphics calls. The framework makes it easier for defence contractors to rapidly develop screen-reliant software for drones, sensors, radars, and other systems, where safety-critical certification is not required, but complex and powerful display capabilities are. The conformance package provides both the code and an example application demonstrating how Qt applications can be created.
“FACE Conformance has expanded considerably into non-airborne programmes, but until now, there hasn’t been anything on the market that addresses the need for powerful, visually rich UIs when safety-critical certification is not a requirement,” says Juhapekka Niemi, Senior Vice President, Qt Group. “This is where Qt adds value, bringing to the defence sector all the benefits we normally offer for embedded devices. We already have a history of providing developers with tools that work across multiple platforms, which avoids the need to tediously build everything from scratch. The cost reductions afforded by this are crucial for defence programs, but also, the time you gain back from the improved efficiencies is time you can use to add more rich UI features on any given budget.”
The Qt Framework is already used extensively in augmenting defence UI capabilities where FACE Conformance has not been required, including devices such as radar, electro-optical, and infrared sensors, electronic warfare, drone control, vehicle instrument clusters, and more.
“When you look at the type of UIs we can normally create, there’s so much in the Qt Framework to work with to create more advanced UIs that aren’t just avionics-specific,” says Ben Minichino, Business Development Director, Aerospace and Defence, Qt Group. “Think of displays for things like camera sensors, radar sensors to view weather conditions or search for other aircraft, or control of drones and weapon systems, or UIs that bring all those and mission systems together. We want to give system builders and integrators a level of flexibility they’ve never seen in these displays.”
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