Rockwell Collins

After graduating from college, I decided to take a job at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I first accepted a job in the Government Systems Division, working in the Integrated Environment Software Team. We made a product called the Common Simulation Environment, which was used to model and simulate the behavior of a wide variety of aircraft electronics. The CSE was used to talk to our company's cockpit displays using protocols like Mil-Std-1553 and ARINC 429. Where test engineers once had to actually fly a plane with prototype equipment to test it, with CSE they could test it on the ground, using the CSE to send fake data to the cockpit displays.

One of the main tasks I worked on was integrating Microsoft Flight Simulator X with CSE using their SDK and TCP/IP communication. This virtual cockpit allows military pilots to fly a virtual plane around using our instruments to see their position, altitude, attitude, etc. I have also written a number of simulations for specific equipment in the C programming language to support various programs, including the US Army CAAS. I have also had the opportunity to write software that allows CSE to communicate with 3rd Party hardware, such as the CEI-520A Arinc 429 PCI Card by GE Fanuc and Systran discrete IP modules, using their APIs.

Later, I moved to a different department, where I joined a team that designs software for high frequency military radios.