ARINC 653 role in Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA)

The air transport industry has developed ARINC Specification 653 as a standardized Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) interface definition. The document specifies the interface boundary between avionics software applications and the core executive software. The standardization effort was sponsored by the airline user community and involved many interested parties, including airframe manufacturers, avionics suppliers, RTOS suppliers, government and academia. ARINC 653 is a key enabler in the development of Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA). In many ways it represents a paradigm shift for avionics development; in particular it recognizes the RTOS as key component of an IMA system. The commitment shown by industry to IMA could not be more evident than that shown by the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 avionics suites. This paper will provide top-level overview of IMA software architecture, the key elements of the ARINC 653 standard and its current development status.