Automatic code generation for airborne systems

The amount of software used on airborne platforms is increasing to unprecedented levels. With much larger amounts of software to design, control, and manage reasoning about overall systems performance becomes more difficult. This is a specific problem for Aerospace, as the use of newer technologies such as Integrated Modular Systems (IMS) and the need for high integrity systems further complicates the process and emphasizes the need to reason about system behaviour rather than specific software items. This paper describes an approach developed within BAE SYSTEMS for a new generation of code generation tools that structure the code generation process to allow arguments to be made about the integrity of the code delivered. In addition, the approach breaks the development process down into different areas of concern. This allows any one aspect of the generation process to be reasoned about in isolation from the others, helping to broaden the scope of code generation without compromising integrity an invaluable asset in the move towards more integrated aerospace systems.