Getting a handle on designing for avionics software supportability and maintainability

The author addresses the acquisition, logistics, and use of avionics software by showing cases of avionics software supportability and maintainability and the design methodology. He defines supportability and maintainability and gives an idealistic example of a strongly designed supportable and maintainable futuristic fighter. The state of supportability and maintainability today is reviewed. The field of software engineering and to focus it to affect design for supportability and maintainability are considered. The engineering design process and how it can accommodate supportability and maintainability are reviewed. The engineering design process is applied to software scenarios and it is shown where supportability and maintainability should be considered in software designs