Data Management in Certified Avionics Systems

Data management is a cornerstone for any kind of information system - including the aerospace and aviation sector. In contrast to conventional domains, software development in the avionics domain must adhere to a legally binding certification process, called qualification. The success of the process depends on compliance with international standards, such as DO-178: Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification. From a software developer's perspective, challenges arise in terms of methods and tools. Techniques that have a potential impact on the deterministic and predictable execution of avionics software are prohibited. The objective of this thesis' research is to develop a scalable method to realize data-management for multi-variant avionics software under the restrictions and constraints of the domain. Since avionics software faces very long-term life-cycles (up to 75 years), a particular focus is being placed on maintenance and evolution. Based on the insights gained in a semi-structured interview at Airbus Helicopters, industrial established approaches to implement qualified avionics software are assessed at first and compared with respect to strengths and weaknesses for data-management afterwards. As a result, a novel development approach is proposed, combining model-based techniques and product-line technology to derive the source code of highly specific data-management variants, as well as the majority of assets required for the qualification process, from a declarative system specification. In order to demonstrate the practicability of the approach in industry, a framework is presented that is deployed and applied at Airbus Helicopters to generate qualifiable data-management components for the variants of the NH90 helicopter. The maintainability is shown by means of a domain-specific optimization, in which the model-based and generative approach is used to establish safe memory overlays at compile-time. Key findings reveal a substantially reduced memory footprint (29,1% in case of a real-world scenario), as well as an significantly facilitated implementation process, which would not be accomplishable using conventional methods for software development in the avionics domain.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Passau

Year

2018

Author dc:creator

• Wölfl, Andreas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kosch, Harald

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International

Repository record source_url

https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/575

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-passau:575