Abstract
With an increasing number of aircraft systems, a fully manual developmental approach is impractical for finding optimal hardware and software mapping from overwhelming configurations for Distributed Integrated Modular Avionics (DIMA) systems. The automation of finding such optimized mapping should be available and thoroughly understood. This paper is an investigation on the foundations of optimal hardware and software mapping for DIMA. We begin by reviewing the DIMA system architecture. Following that, we present the problem statement of hardware and software mapping and its ensuring mathematical optimization models. A set of primary architectural quality metrics (e.g., reliability and scalability) and aircraft constraints (e.g., segregation and resource constraints) are identified, which can be used to compose an objective function or compare and trade alternatives. Based on the quality metrics and aircraft constraints, we synthesize an encompassing formulation by means of multi-objective optimization. Various optimization approaches for hardware and software mapping are then reviewed and compared. Case studies of DIMA optimization are presented for avionics systems, in which running time is reported for different optimization problems with different objectives and constraints. In addition, we present and discuss open issues and future trends, from which future developments may draw upon.
Highlights
Since the introduction of modern avionics into civil and military aircraft, avionics systems have evolved from analogue radio communication and navigation systems developed around World Wars I and II [1,2,3] to digital, multi-functional, integrated and distributed systems of the present
Avionics Data Communication Network (ADCN) is based on Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) with a switched star topology [29], which is a standard protocol in Distributed Integrated Modular Avionics (DIMA) architecture
The objectives of DIMA optimization can be considered from quality measures in an avionics system, which can be classified into two categories, that is, effectiveness and cost
Summary
Since the introduction of modern avionics into civil and military aircraft, avionics systems have evolved from analogue radio communication and navigation systems developed around World Wars I and II [1,2,3] to digital, multi-functional, integrated and distributed systems of the present. The generic mapping problem is equivalent to the general assignment problem of optimal resource allocation in distributed computing This is commonly formulated as an integer linear program, and solved through approximate or heuristic algorithms. A much more relevant work is given by Reference [24] that provides a review on key technologies of DIMA, in task scheduling, but the scheduling is conducted in a fixed hardware and software mapping. This survey paper focuses on DIMA optimization for the optimal configuration, which should be useful especially for avionics architecture designers.
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