Technology roll lessons learned on embedded avionics platforms

Open system architectures based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) building block components offer the ability to leverage the latest technology into fielded products while minimizing the impact to the operational flight software, which is typically the most costly component of an avionics development or upgrade. Our team has developed a layered hardware and software approach based on industry standard hardware and software interfaces to abstract the application (operational) software developers from the underlying technology changes to the hardware and operating system software that naturally occur as part of the commercial marketplace. In this paper we describe the components and the layered architecture of our open system architecture approach. We discuss specific system, hardware, and software technology insertions that have been made to incorporate the latest available technology and how these changes have been abstracted from the application software. The paper concludes by discussing the lessons learned from the use of these common components and corresponding technology upgrades across various platforms.