Some Non-Defense Ada Applications February 1993sources: Commercial Ada Users Working Group (CAUWG), AdaStrategies, Ada Anthology, published reports, vendor newsletters, etc.,
summarized by Michael B. Feldman Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science The George Washington University Washington, DC 20052 202-994-5253 (voice) 202-994-5296 (fax) firstname.lastname@example.org(Belgian project entries added by Dirk Craeynest, K.U.Leuven.)
Here is a list of non-defense Ada projects of which I am aware. Previous versions of this list were called " Non-Government" ; this one is called "Non-Defense". This is because the line between a purely commercial project and a government one is increasingly fuzzy, especially in Europe where the telecommunications industry is quasi-governmental and governments often own stock in companies.
In the U.S., two very large government but non-defense Ada projects are the FAA Advanced Automation system for air traffic control, and the NASA Space Station Freedom software. The U.S. projects on the list below are in addition to these two. Note that Lawrence Livermore National Lab is a Department of Energy facility which points out that it was under no Ada mandate.
Any such list must have selection criteria. I prefer to focus on actual, fielded applications, and therefore I have not listed compilers, tools, reuse libraries, etc., of which there are many coded in Ada. Software development tools are interesting, but they are in a different category altogether from fielded systems.
The reader will note that many of these systems are in the aerospace and telecommunications domains, both in the US and elsewhere. Naturally this is not a coincidence; both domains require highly reliable software, and many of the companies involved have built upon their defense experience and chosen Ada for non-defense applications. On the other hand, one can see that Ada is also making inroads into other industries, especially banking and securities. There are also several "shrink-wrap" products for personal computers.
Readers are invited to correct or add entries and send them to me. The CAUWG chair, Ben Brosgol, can be reached at email@example.com or (617) 270-0030; Ralph Crafts, the editor of Ada Strategies, a commercial Ada-oriented newsletter, and Ada Anthology, a summary of newsletter articles, can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or (304) 725-6542. The Ada Information Clearinghouse also keeps track of projects like these; reach them at email@example.com or (800) AdaIC11. Thanks to Tom Erickson and Xavier du Joie of Alsys for their recent long list of additions to the list.
Australia CSA: ground stations for an L-Band car-to-satellite telephone system in Australia. Multiple sites, many processors linked in real-time; Sun SPARC, Sun SPARCengine; SunAda, VADSWorks. Belgium Eurocontrol Brussels: Central Flow Management Unit (air traffic control), HP 9000/HP-UX, Alsys. Belgium ICT Automatisering: STAS-300 - automatic operation of liquid fuels depots, VAX/VMS, DEC Ada. Belgium Meersschaert N.V.: Software for weaving-looms and jacquard- machines. Belgium Spacebel Informatique S.A.: Mock-up software for Hermes space shuttle localisation, Sun3, TLD Ada (HSDE). Belgium Spacebel Informatique S.A.: VICOS - Verification and Integration Check Out System for space station Columbus test beds, Verdix. Belgium Spacebel Informatique S.A.: USS - User Support Services, library of embedded software for space station Columbus Data Management System, Sun 3/4, Alsys. Belgium Trasys: DIMOS - Distributed Monitoring System for nuclear power plant, 300,000 lines, VAX/VMS & VAX/ELN, DEC Ada. Belgium Trasys: Application software of CANAC air traffic control system for Brussels national airport. Belgium Trasys: NGP - Navigation, Guidance and Piloting, prototyping of part of embedded software of Hermes space shuttle, Sun SPARC, Verdix. Belgium Trasys: prototyping of Core System and Mission Management for Columbus space station. Belgium Trasys: software for test benches of ARIANE 5 rocket. Belgium Trasys: PRODOS - dosimetry control system for nuclear power plant. Canada Canadian Space Agency: satellite payload control system. Canada Canadian Marconi: Global Positioning Satellite software for Boeing 777. Canada Eyepoint, Inc: Tunis Operating System in Ada. Canada Hughes: CAATS - Canadian Air Traffic Control System, Rational. Chile Empresa Nacional de Aeronautica (ENAER): real-time avionics system, Data General/TeleSoft Europe European Space Agency: ground station operator environment; nearly all space station software Finland Nokia Information Systems: online banking systems. France CEA Caradache: simulator for nuclear reactor management, HP9000-300, Alsys. France CGA: Systems for mail sorting machines, Sun3-->68k, Alsys. France Citroen/3FP: Programmed Robots Management System for automotive production lines. France CMG: turnkey signal processing, industrial automation. France CSEE: Braking system for French High Speed Train (TGV), VAX-->68k, Alsys. France Euristic Systems: expert system to manage continuous data acquisition, ApolloDomain network, Alsys. France GEC Alsthom: fully-committed to Ada for railroad subsystems including French high-speed train (TGV) network and Channel Tunnel. France SAPEX: industrial cutting of Airbus items, various computers, Alsys. France SEMA Group: software to control nuclear power plant, DOS, Alsys. France Sextant Avionique: Global Positioning System for Aircraft, VAX-->68020, Alsys. France SIGLOS Industries: Manufacturing process control system (monitoring system), DOS, Alsys. France SNCF: Astree program - project for automatic train control, Rational. France Strategies: CADWIN, PC-based CAD/CAM product, Alsys. France SYSECA: new French air-traffic control system. France Thomson-CSF: operational civilian Air Traffic Control systems in Copenhagen, Kenya, Pakistan, simulators in Switzerland, Ireland, more ATC systems coming. France Thomson DOI/Mercier Bugatti: Braking system and landing gear control system for Airbus 330 and 340. France TOTAL (oil company): computer-assisted extraction of oil products, bare 68020, Alsys. Germany Alcatel SEL: satellite positioning, Sun-3-->80386, Alsys. Germany Daimler-Benz (Mercedes): calculation of data for automobile construction, HP9000-700, Alsys. Germany Dermalog: identification of fingerprints, PC-->Transputer, Alsys. Germany Dornier: ARIANE 5 spacecraft, VAX/VMS-->68k, Alsys. Germany dSpace: tools to control fast systems such as hard disks, vehicle suspensions, robots, Alsys. Germany ERNO Raumfahrttechnik: COLUMBUS part of Space Station Freedom, HP9000-700, Alsys. Germany Eurocontrol: air traffic control system, Sun SPARC, Alsys. Germany Fichtel & Sachs/Univ. of Paderborn: Computer-Aided Mechatronic Laboratory, various computers. Germany Quelle AG (mail order company): mail order process simulation. Germany Siemens AG: flight control agency emergency communication system. Germany Sietec: electron-beam lithography system, DOS, Alsys. Holland Royal Dutch Post and Telecom: PC-based system for control and monitoring of public telecommunication service, MS-DOS, Alsys. Japan Nippon Telephone and Telegraph: videotex communication system, mobile communication system, satellite communication system, database management system; all commercially available. Norway Norwegian Telecom: X.400 P7 implementation, supporting electronic mail between computers through satellites, various computers, Alsys. Norway TeleServe: fault-tolerant (of class highly-available), real-time SQL servers, for telecommunications applications. TeleSoft Ada. Spain CESEL: radar and flight plan processing for Spanish air-traffic control centers. Spain Teice Control, SA: control system for 40 buildings in industrial area of Madrid Airport (A/C, power supply, fire-detection, etc.) Sweden ESAB: robotic welding stations for use in flexible manufacturing systems, TeleSoft, Vax and 680x0. Sweden SattControl: warehouse systems Sweden Swedish Telecom: system for supervision of private-branch telephone exchanges (PBX's) Sweden Volvo: materials handling system (robotic parts carts), TeleSoft. Sweden Color display element of hospital building control and monitoring system: 1600 I/O channels, 200 dynamic color displays, lots of tasking, Meridian. Switzerland ABB Relays AG: power transmission, HP9000-700-->68k, Alsys. Switzerland Click Informatik AG: control of air-conditioning and heating systems, HP9000-700, Alsys. Switzerland LinkVest: real-time stock exchange management system, VAX. Switzerland Tegimenta AG: analysis system for medical diagnosis, HP900-300-->68k, Alsys. Switzerland Union Bank: Operations Control System to manage distributed Vax-en. UK Avantek: Access Mac (lets MS DOS disk drives read, write, format Macintosh disks), Janus/Ada. UK CORAL: DACMAN, simulation and data monitoring system for auto engines, IBM PC, Alsys, Meridian. UK Cray Systems Space Division: real-time training simulator for satellite controllers. UK Eurocontrol: Flight management system, Alsys. UK Ferranti International: Generic tools to build nuclear power station monitoring systems, Rational. UK Ferranti (customer is Nuclear Electric): Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) refurbishment program, Rational. UK GeoMatrix: PC demographics research system, Alsys. UK IBM: NERC Program (New Enroute Center) - air traffic control, Rational. UK Orbitel Mobile Communications: cellular phone base station, Alsys. UK Process Plant and Chemicals: chemical process control systems, DOS, Alsys. UK Pulse Train Technology: software for interactive analysis of consumer survey data (for marketing depts.), DOS and Unix, Alsys. UK Univ. of Southampton, modeling of deep-sea ecosystem, IBM 3090, Alsys. UK Westinghouse Signals, Ltd.: Railways signaling system, VAX-->68k, Alsys. USA AAI: Commercial fire-fighter simulator/trainer, Rational. USA Beech Aircraft: many flight-control subsystems for Beechjet 400A and Beech Starship I (business jets) (see Rockwell) USA Boeing: 747-400 subsystem components of cockpit displays, on-board maintenance systems, secondary flight controls USA Boneck Printing: job costing system, 40,000 lines, Janus/Ada USA CAE-Link: Space Station Verification and Training Facility/ Shuttle Mission Simulator, Real-time, distributed simulators (using OO methodology, no less!). Silicon Graphics/Verdix USA Coulter: medical electronics, including hematology equipment. USA Crane HydroAir: braking systems for aircraft, Alsys. USA Design Aids: commercial frame-by-frame videotape editing system, Janus/Ada USA Dimensional Media Systems: Doorway, hypertext "information manager," MS-DOS, Meridian USA Dowell-Schlumberger: oil exploration simulation software, DEC USA General Electric/Weirton Steel: hot steel rolling mill, multiple MicroVax-en, DEC Ada USA General Electric: Satellite communications ground station (known as the Second TDRSS Ground Terminal), Rational. USA Genesis Software, Inc.: complete bill paying system, Wang VS, Alsys; ported easily to VAX USA HP: hardware CAD system for internal use in chip development. USA Honeywell: Airplane Information Management System (AIMS) for the Boeing 777, Rational. USA Inviroplan: factory ignition monitoring system, Alsys. USA JEOL USA, Inc.: Delta - Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer Control, Data Processing and Visualization, Irix(SGI UNIX), SGI/Ada & SGI/MP-Ada (Verdix 6.2f based). USA LDS Hospital: medical decision support system, DOS, Alsys. USA Lawrence Livermore National Lab (DOE): Nova fusion laser contol system (world's largest laser), DEC Ada, MOTIF, multiple VAXStations. USA Lawrence Livermore National Lab: building security system: access control, intrusion detection, window-based monitoring and control, VAX/VMS. USA MAN Truck and Bus Company: multi-state payroll system, Janus/Ada (1982!) USA Motorola: cellular phone switch testing system, Alsys, TeleSoft. USA NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Cassini orbiter spacecraft to Saturn, Rational. USA PC-based programmer for embedded medical products (company refuses to be identified). USA Reuters: transaction processing for Chicago Mercantile Exchange, interfaces to commercial DBMS USA Rockwell: Fokker F100 Multi-Function Display System, Irvine Compilers USA Rockwell: Advanced Railroad Electronic System (real-time tracking and Global Positioning Satellite communications with trains) USA Rockwell: Many system components for commercial aircraft control. USA Rockwell: commercial Miniaturized Global Positioning Satellite Receiver (MGR). USA Rollins Leasing (national leader in truck leasing and vehicle management): integrated fuel management system, Janus/Ada. USA Shell Oil: geophysical seismic processing system (many different computers). USA Smiths (formerly Lear-Sigler): large embedded flight program for Boeing-737 aircraft, XD-Ada. USA Sundstrand: power supply ignition for Boeing-777, Alsys. USA Trace Instruments: automatic test equipment for printed circuit boards. USA Wells-Fargo Investment Advisors (WFNIA): real-time investment database system, DEC/VAX.
To the Ada-Belgium home page.
Last update: 93/02. Page added: 95/08/30.