Challenges and Solutions for Embedded and Networked Aerospace Software Systems

Aerospace systems are increasingly dependent upon software for their functionality, with associated software spanning a wide range of application domains. These include aircraft and spacecraft flight controls, mission computing, weapons management, command and control, surveillance, sensor management and processing, telemetry, and more. Understanding of their unique challenges has driven technology development on many fronts associated both with the products - such as real-time component-based application frameworks, supporting middleware, and algorithms - and the processes and tools by which they are created - such as model-based development and integration, automated code generation, simulations, and desktop test environments. This paper describes a number of these domains and challenges, future directions associated with networking and systems of systems, and technologies facilitating their development within The Boeing Company.