Reducing avionics software cost through component based product line development

This paper focuses on two important characteristics of the software architecture: layered architecture and medium grained architecture. It is important to note that both of these characteristics derive directly from the original goals of encapsulating change and maximizing reuse. The layering aspect especially relates to developing an application that is independent of the hardware and avionics specifics of a single aircraft. The medium granularity of the components provides a system that can be deployed on varying numbers of processors in single processor or distributed hardware configurations. Both of these goals directly relate to the original decision of developing a product line software system.