Reusing safety-critical software in aviation

Abstract

The reuse of safety-critical software components will fundamentally change the future of software development for safety-critical embedded systems in military and avionics applications. Economic incentives and software complexity have made it desirable to develop reusable software components that can be integrated into a number of safety-critical systems. With reusable software component approvals for a DO-178B Level-A operating system, software reuse is much improved for the safety-critical embedded systems used in avionics systems. Software reuse fundamentally change the future of embedded software development by improving developer productivity, controlling software quality reducing product schedule risks and minimizing overall development costs: all things of great importance to any systems engineering organization.