Military Embedded Systems

Continuous testing is indispensable in a well-functioning CI/CD [continuous integration/continuous delivery] pipeline, as testing consumes the most time and resources. In a data-driven development (DDD) process, organizations must use tools supporting automation and optimization – critical for continuous testing – driving larger code coverage, intelligent test execution, and bidirectional traceability, and thereby further enhancing software quality and reliability.

Before jumping right into adopting DO-326A to address cybersecurity certification, it needs to be put into the context of DO-178, which is the overarching standard. DO-178 is a process standard that contains steps for the software used in airborne systems. DO-178C, also known as ED-12C in Europe, is the latest version that aerospace systems and software engineers use as guidance to ensure airworthiness. Though it continues to evolve, one document cannot encompass all development needs and supporting or complementing documents to DO-178 have evolved over time. DO-326A is one of these; its purpose is to provide a framework with objectives and process guidance in addressing intentional and unintentional security threats to aircraft systems.

Maintaining U.S. supremacy in all aspects of warfare can be challenging for Department of Defense (DoD) leaders, partly due to being locked into proprietary platforms or vendor- specific open architectures. These issues limit the government?s ability to bring in third parties to compete or add new capabilities, which has resulted in sole-source or single-bidder contract awards. An open systems architecture strategy has shown to curb the high-cost, long program schedules and lack of integration options of warfighting capabilities. This is where an initiative such as the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) can play a major role in making a business and technological difference.

Avionics vendors ? hardware and software ? share an enthusiasm for the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard, which promotes a common operating environment with reuse of software capabilities across multiple Department of Defense (DoD) avionics systems. This enthusiasm continues to grow as does participation within the FACE consortium ? run by the Open Group ? as the version 3.0 of the standard is soon to be released. The long -term life-cycle cost savings enabled by reuse standards such as FACE are changing the face of the DoD the procurement process for embedded computing solutions.