Case Study: Korean Air reduces UAV flight‑control development time by 60% with MathWorks Model‑Based Design

Korean Air Speeds UAV Flight Control Software Development and Verification with Model-Based Design

Korean Air needed to accelerate development and verification of high‑integrity UAV flight management and control software after finding hand‑coding was too slow and error‑prone for multiple platforms and tight certification deadlines. Working with MathWorks, the team adopted Model‑Based Design using MATLAB and Simulink to model, simulate, and validate requirements and control laws early in the process.

MathWorks tools (including Simulink, Embedded Coder, Polyspace Code Prover, Simulink Real‑Time, Aerospace Blockset, and support toolboxes) were used to generate and verify production code, run HIL simulations, and provide MC/DC coverage reports for certification. The MathWorks workflow uncovered and eliminated 100% of run‑time errors in handwritten code, cut development effort by about 60%, reduced required flight tests to roughly one‑third, produced over 45,000 lines of generated code, and enabled Korean Air to complete development on schedule and achieve airworthiness certification.

Korean Air

Jungho Moon

Senior Flight Control System Engineer