Hardware vs. software design tradeoffs for maintenance functions in high-reliability real time systems

Software and hardware maintenance features must effectively function together to insure reliability in a real time system. A description is given here of some of the factors that contribute to effective maintenance design, including hardware characteristics that affect maintenance software and the partitioning of maintenance functions between software, firmware, and hardware. A look is also taken at the current trends in maintenance of a real time system with the indication that the relationship between software and hardware is changing and some of the functions traditionally assigned to maintenance software will in the future be assigned to hardware, appropriately assisted by firmware.