An easy-to-use real-time AFDX simulation framework

This article presents a model library of generic components to build virtual Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) networks. The presented library is a blockset for MATLAB/Simulink. The functional behavior of the simulation library's basic building blocks represent the scheduling and routing in AFDX end systems and switches on frame level. The graphical nature of Simulink allows to model AFDX topologies the same way real hardware would be connected. Moreover, topologies built with this library can be executed in real-time using dSPACE rapid prototyping systems. With simulation studies on different virtual topologies on a dSPACE system it is determined for how many messages and for which periods a simulation run in real-time. It is demonstrated that an AFDX topology up to the size of an Airbus A380 can be simulated in real-time and how the simulation interacts with real-world AFDX equipment.