Support technologies for avionics operational flight programs

It is pointed out that, as software grows in airborne weapon systems, support problems of operational flight programs (OFPs) become a critical technology challenge. Five important technologies are discussed from the viewpoint of how they might be applied to controlling the 'software tail' of OFPs. They are: Ada, hypermedia, automatic programming, software engineering environments, and advanced verification and validation. Each area is significant in terms of managing the proliferation of software that is occurring in avionics systems. As future avionics becomes even more complex and software-intensive, these areas will assume a critical importance. >