Preventing data pollution in the space shuttle cockpit

The paper discusses prevention of data pollution in the space shuttle cockpit. The paper examines the process and results of designing cockpit avionics upgrade (CAU) system to mitigate potential pollution failure modes. The pollution issue affected the data bus architecture of the system, the design of the hardware interfaces in the new computers and especially the approach to allocating software functionality to each redundant display computer. The result is a system that was designed in accordance to a written set of design principals or precepts to allow it to meet all operational requirements while mitigating potential pollution related failure modes. The paper serves to capture the process that was used and the design that resulted, and stands as a testament to the great care NASA takes in addressing the safety of manned space flight.