Critical Embedded Software

This chapter looks at the current state of physical systems controlled by an onboard computer. Typically this covers transportation systems such as cars, aircraft, railway systems, space systems, or even medical devices, all of them either for the expected harmfulness for people, or for the huge cost associated with their failure. The chapter shows how the increase of computer use in those systems has led to huge benefits, but also an exponential growth in complexity. Furthermore, the drawback of this massive introduction of computers to control systems is the lack of predictability for both computer and software. This chapter shows how the aerospace industry, and more generally critical embedded systems industries, is now facing a huge increase in the software size in their systems. This in turn creates a greater system complexity increase because of safety or performance objectives. Moreover, this complexity leads to the need to integrate even more advanced algorithms to sustain autonomy and energy efficiency.