Avionics Programming Learning Materials?

[RooksAndBooks]

I'm an aspiring aerospace engineer. I know that Ada is a language used in many planes today, but I can't find anything to learn about Ada for avionics--I couldn't find books or tutorials. Do any of you guys have any recommendations on how to go about this? I'm very interested in teaching myself but I can't find any learning materials.

 

[RooksAndBooks]

I can find materials on learning the Ada language, but not on how to use Ada in an airplane.

 

[donpacino]

a LOT of code in flight critical equipment is written in C.

That being said I wouldn't worry about the language, worry about the application

 

[RooksAndBooks]

a LOT of code in flight critical equipment is written in C.

That being said I wouldn't worry about the language, worry about the application

I can find tutorials on any programming language on the Internet, but basically what I'm asking for is a resource that will teach me how to program in (language) in a way that an airplane would be able to understand as well as how I would go about installing it on avionics (as well as debugging). I'm worried about how to put it on airplane avionics, not how to learn a programming language.

 

[donpacino]

what exactly do you mean?
are you referring to flight code for a hobbyist UAV, or flight code for a boeing 737

 

[RooksAndBooks]

what exactly do you mean?
are you referring to flight code for a hobbyist UAV, or flight code for a boeing 737

Both would be nice but I'm much more concerned about a Boeing 737.

 

[donpacino]

so the hobbyist stuff is easy. go to a website like aeroquad, download the source code, and examine it!As far as large commercial/military aircraft, the amount of software on those thing is immense. We're talking hundreds of thousands of line of code for the entire aircraft. To be honest I'm not entirely sure where you can find resources on those. Everything i have learned is on the job.
To start you can look up arinc 429 and AFDX, those are commonly used avionics communications protocols.
look up do-178, which is the software verification standard that avionics software has to meet.

note: Do NOT just read through them, you'll be bored very quickly. I would recommend trying to make two systems talk through AFDX or arinic 429 (or other avionics com protocols). That would go VERY far to make you look good on a resume

I would also try to get familiar with common embedded RTOS and their uses
look up the concept of minor and major frames

work on embedded electronics

 

[donpacino]

in general avionics software can be considered very robust, 100% tested (and I mean 100% tested) embedded electronics software

 

[RooksAndBooks]

work on embedded electronics

Hmm, so would this help? If so, how much?

 

[donpacino]

Hmm, so would this help? If so, how much?

if you want to learn embedded programming, yeah probably

quick question, and this is one that i should have asked. What is your background. Are you in high school, college? if so, what's your major

 

[RooksAndBooks]

if you want to learn embedded programming, yeah probably

quick question, and this is one that i should have asked. What is your background. Are you in high school, college? if so, what's your major

I'm a freshman in college (14 years old). What I was trying to ask was whether or not that book would help me in any way with avionics programming.