A real time Linux system for flight testing aircraft

A PC-104 system running a modified Linux kernel to implement a real time system was developed to support flight testing. The system was design to take advantage of commercially available boards to reduce both development time and the time require to build additional systems. A real time kernel module is loaded into the modified Linux kernel to implement the data collection and control law implementation required for the flight test program. A user space program is used to control the real time tasks and store data. The software was written to allow quick and easy modification of the hardware and software. The resulting system has been used in flight testing programs ranging from uninhabited aerial vehicles to C-130 Hercules.