ABSTRACT
The avionics industry has long recognized the substantial cost benefits that could be realized using a large-scale integrated computing architecture for airborne avionics. Technology achievements by airframe, avionics, and semiconductor manufacturers allow implementation of these integrated avionics architectures resulting in substantial life cycle cost benefits. The Boeing 777 Airplane Information Management System represents the first application of an integrated computing architecture in a commercial air transport. High levels of functional integration dictate availability and integrity requirements far exceeding the requirements for federated architectures. Resource availability requirements must be sufficient to probabilistically preclude the simultaneous loss of multiple functions utilizing shared resources. The robust partitioning provided by the architecture allows applications to use common resources without any adverse interactions. This is achieved through a combination of memory management and deterministic scheduling of application software execution.
