Trustable computing in next-generation avionic architectures

Abstract

In tomorrow's 'brilliant' weapons, next-generation avionic computers will need to orchestrate the actions of many subsystems while further maintaining the security of sensitive data, the integrity of key data and of system behavior, and often other key properties. Maintenance of these properties will help ensure that system execution is trustable, conforming to both prescribed policies and expected behavior. The essential properties of security and integrity are introduced, and other properties (like virus resistance) that should complement them in future avionic computing are cited. Traditional security maintenance as derived from simple controls that constrain application accesses in a rather rigid way are reviewed. It is illustrated how, to add integrity maintenance capability, such controls can be enhanced to support customizable application execution constraint. Mechanisms for supporting security and integrity in next-generation avionic architectures are recommended. >