Aircraft level optimization of avionics architectures

The complexity of avionics is rising exponentially. Commonly used design methodologies in complex system design partition the work at high level of uncertainty. This methodology does not permit to optimize at system level and results in very low probabilities of not having critical errors after design. Hence the design method causes high integration costs and redesigns. This paper presents a new design methodology for optimizing avionics architectures at aircraft level. Aircraft level optimization of avionics architectures minimizes cost, weight and cable length, maximizes availability, and generates an XML description of the optimized IMA architecture. A behavioral model of an avionics system is automatically mapped into this optimized architecture. The combined model of architecture and functional behavior is analyzed. For an example system it is shown that this aircraft level optimization methodology can reduce cable/length/weight by 68% and increase availability by several orders of magnitude over a conventional design.